Earning Their Happy Ending
by supercode
Summary: Set post Endgame AU. Sometimes is possible to make something out of even the worst circumstances, but, as the characters in this story will soon learn, nothing in this world is free, and sometimes it can take awhile to earn your happy ending! Multiple pairing, with a large emphasis on Vinwell. Contains some disturbing themes and angst, but also some fluff. Rated M to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Cape, or any of the associated storylines, characters, or settings on that show. Only the plot of this story is my own.**

**Author's note: This story takes place post Endgame, but it is a little AU in some places in service of the plot, which will fall somewhere in between idealistic and realistic, and will endorse the idea that, in fiction at least, if a story doesn't have a happy ending, that just means the story hasn't finished yet, while also reinforcing the proposition (which matched the story's title) that sometimes you have to earn your happy ending. Two ideas which have been used to endorse very different viewpoints of the world, but nevertheless, do not necessarily conflict. I hope you enjoy this story!**

The super-villain known as Chess, who was secretly a dissociated segment of corrupt corporate mogul Peter Fleming's mind, grinned and laughed maniacally in triumph. It had taken him almost two years, and untold millions of dollars, to finally reach this point, but he was finally about to defeat his nemesis, the mysterious individual he only knew of as "The Cape". Chess pointed his gun at the vigilante's head as the Cape (aka Vince Faraday) was struggling to pull himself over the edge of the tower that Chess was standing on top of. But the villain knew that the already wounded hero, who had been shot in his right arm, would never be able to get up on time to save himself. At long last, the mighty Chess, the corporate and criminal kingpin of Palm City, would be able to rid himself of the Cape. Then no one besides the mysterious Orwell would stand in the way of him achieving full dominion over this city!

Chess' triumph was cut short at the last moment, however, just as he was about to pull the trigger on his gun, by the voice of someone that Peter Fleming never thought he would see again. "Don't do it, Dad! Please don't kill him!"

Chess turned toward the source of the voice, the mysterious Orwell, aka the Cape's partner, aka Jamie Fleming, Peter Fleming's daughter! And this time, Orwell wasn't wearing her signature mask or voice modulator, so Peter knew that this was his daughter. Chess pointed the gun right at Jamie. "We're wasting time! Kill the girl first, and then the Cape, but do it quickly!" Jamie visibly flinched at the rough tone of voice that came out of her father's mouth every time Chess took control of his body, and the girl wondered whether or not the gun in her father's hand was about to shoot her next. Thankfully, that didn't happen, and a very different voice emerged from the mouth of the same man, the original voice of Peter Fleming, the one which had told Jamie bed time stories and made her laugh with stupid jokes back when his daughter still worshipped him and thought that he could do no wrong. "Shut up for once, Chess! I'm not going to kill my only daughter who I've been trying to bring home all these years! Now, we are going to put this gun down…now!" Peter Fleming visibly grimaced as he struggled to regain control of his body from the entity known as Chess, which he had created to carry his own negative emotions after his wife had died, the entity which had been gaining more and more control as the years passed by. The man's gun hand shook as the two dissociated parts of his personality warred with each other, one trying to kill the woman in front of them, and the other trying to save her.

Jamie suppressed the urge to tremble, not knowing which side of her father's personality was going to win, but she knew if there was any hope of saving her father, she would have to stand still and see how this played out. The young woman just hoped that her father's love for her would be great enough to motivate him to free himself from Chess. It's not that Jamie had any illusions that her father was a good man, for she knew he had not been an honest businessman since after her mother had died. But despite his numerous character flaws, Peter Fleming was no killer, and he apparently still loved his daughter. Evidently, Chess felt differently, though, and Peter's hand continued to shake, with his index finger alternating between moving towards, and then away from, the trigger.

Peter Fleming's existential struggle was soon interrupted, however, as Vince finally managed to pull himself over the edge of the tall tower and, in one fluid motion, roll into a position just to Chess' side and used his wondrous cape to pull the gun out of Peter's hand, tossing it harmlessly onto the ground. Before either Chess or Fleming could even begin to react to the Cape's actions, the vigilante extended his cape a second time, used it to capture the villain's head, and pulled Peter forward, forcing him to stumble right into the hero's punch, which knocked the CEO of ARK out instantly! The masked hero then turned his "partner in crime", who now bore a shocked look on her face. "Are you okay, Jamie? I know that had to be hard for you, confronting your own father like that. Sorry I had to hit him, by the way. I want you to know I appreciate what you just did, though. I literally owe you my life!"

Although he couldn't show it now, Vince was very worried about his partner at the moment. He would never forget that fateful night. A year and a half ago, his ex-cop friend had been killed, and with him, what Vince Faraday had thought would be the only way to clear his name and go home. After his family had been rushed out of the city, Orwell had had a nervous breakdown. She had told her partner almost everything after Vince dropped everything to help his friend out when she called him while in tears, speaking incoherently. When he had made his way to Orwell's home, her door was locked and she wouldn't answer it, but Vince had heard her cries of distress and broken down the door. When he had seen Orwell standing in her kitchen, her entire apartment a wreck around her, pointing a large knife toward her own chest and muttering something about how "it's all my fault" and "the voices won't go away", the man's heart had almost stopped. Vince had ran behind Orwell and gently, but quickly, disarmed his friend in less than 2 seconds. Up till then, even the Cape hadn't known that he could move that quickly! After that, Vince's best friend had collapsed into Vince's arms while putting her head on his chest and sobbing. And then she had told him everything, or so Vince thought. How she still blamed herself for telling him about that weapons shipment and ruining his life, that she was really Jamie Fleming and Peter Fleming was her father, that Chess was actually an alternate personality of her father that did things that were worse than anything the man who had raised her would ever do, and that she was still trying to save her dad, even if she had to get him locked up in a mental institution to do it. Then, in that extreme and rare moment of vulnerability, Jamie had revealed that she sometimes heard voices in her head just like her father did, and she had been hearing them ever since she had run away from her father at 16. The voices had actually gone away for a while around the time that she had started working with Vince and the Carnival of Crime, but they had returned soon after she had moved away right after her traumatic experience with the Lich. Vince had tried to convince her to see a psychiatrist then, but Jamie had refused, saying she was afraid she would be locked up before her work as Orwell could be completed. Besides, the brunette young woman had sighed, she had tried pretty much everything to get the voices to go away already, counselor's, doctors, medication. But nothing worked. Except…Jamie confessed to Vince that she had never heard any of the voices around him, and that the voices had stopped telling her to harm herself as soon as Vince had forced herself into the room. After that revelation, Vince had given Jamie an ultimatum: Either she would go back to living with him and the Carnival of Crime again, or he would have her committed, because there was no way he was going to let his best friend kill herself. Jamie had quickly agreed to the first option. And that was how Jamie had ended up spending the next year and a half living with Vince and his friends.

Over that year and a half, as Orwell and the Cape continued to thwart Chess' plans, Jamie and Vince had gotten closer, and had gradually started to share more and more about themselves as time went on. Eventually, despite her best efforts not to, Jamie had even come to trust Vince Faraday, the only person she had allowed herself to trust ever since she had started finding out the truth about her father when she was ten years old. And Vince, despite his own best efforts, began to fall in love with his partner. The devout family man thought that was bad enough. But things gradually got even "worse" on that front, as he noticed the way that Jamie looked at him sometimes with those beautiful hazel eyes of hers when she didn't think he was looking. Evidently, the young woman was falling in love with him at the same time as he was gradually falling out of love with his wife, Dana, who he did not even get to see from a distance anymore since she had been forced to relocate after she tried to stand up to ARK. Vince Faraday still loved his wife and Trip, and wanted desperately to see them again, but his feelings toward Dana had grown less intense as the man realized that, although he still loved the mother of his child, and all of the good things and experiences she had given him, he was no longer **in love with** his wife. Vince remembered realizing this about six months after his family had been forced to relocate. It had been a bad day. Ironically, Vince's only source of solace that day had come from one source of his problems, as Jamie had just laid next to Vince on his bed most of that day, both of them fully clothed, and the partners in crime had held each other's hands, saying nothing . Jamie had instinctively known somehow that it was not a good idea to try to send Vince on a mission, or even to insist that he should train that day. Neither of them had ever talked about that day, but Vince knew that he had fallen even more in love with Jamie after that had happened.

Eventually, the members of the Carnival of Crime noticed that Vince and Jamie obviously had feelings for each other, and rumors had begun to fly that the two of them were now in a relationship. Rumors both of them had denied. Both of them were aware that Vince was a strict family man of unwavering principles, and would never start a relationship with Jamie when his wife and child were still out in the world somewhere, and they knew that their feelings for each other could never go anywhere.

Jamie/Orwell's words jolted Vince out of his memories and back to the present. It was clear from the almost vacant expression on Jamie's face that she was still coming out of shock, but she was at least able to speak now. "I'm fine, Vince. I'm just glad you didn't have to kill my dad. And I was able to hack the facility's servers and get enough info to put my father in jail, or hopefully a psychiatric ward, ten times over AND clear the names of both you and your wife!" Jamie put on the best fake smile she could muster, but Vince saw right through it. He could tell that Jamie was even less anxious for him to leave their partnership behind than he was as the blogger added. "You can finally go home!"

….6 months later

Vince waited in the park, sitting on the bench that was his and Jamie's usual meeting spot when they got ice cream. He wasn't sure this was a great idea. Vince had been home for almost six months since he and Orwell had managed to get enough evidence to clear his name and get Peter Fleming (who had plead "Not guilty by reason of insanity" to the crimes leveled against him by the court) thrown into a psychiatric ward indefinitely. Six months since he, Dana and Trip had finally been able to come back to the home they had all shared before the night Vince had "died" two years ago. Trip had actually adjusted to the change rather well, and he was just glad to have his father back. So Vince and his son had been able to pick back up (almost) exactly where they left off after Trip told him about some of the highlights of the last two years of his life. Vince and Dana hadn't adjusted to going back "home" nearly as well.

The truth was, Vince and Dana's marriage was on the rocks. Not only was the Cape's wife mad at him for letting her believe he was dead for 2 years, she was also angry that he had not told her who he was when he had been protecting her and Trip under the guise of the Cape. It has also quickly became apparent that Vince and Dana had become very different people over the past couple of years. Although they still got along well, at least on the days that Dana wasn't madder at Vince than usual for his 2 yearlong deception, the love between them just wasn't what it used to be. Still, Vince and Dana still cared enough about each other to try to preserve their marriage and family, so they had enlisted the services of a marriage counselor 3 months ago. And that had made things worse.

Over the course of therapy, two very important facts had come to light. First, Dana had been dating another man, her old boss from the Palm City public defender's office, for over a year while Vince had been "dead." Vince had not been terribly surprised by this. After all, he had seen Travis Hall flirting with her on a couple of occasions when he had been watching her as the Cape, and he knew that man had been watching out for both Dana and Trip while he had been forced to stay away from his family. So it wasn't all that surprising to Vince that Dana would come to care about the man who had helped her get back on her feet after her husband "died." It still hurt, though, especially after Dana admitted that, although she had not seen, or kept in touch with, Travis since Vince had returned, she still had feelings for the man, enough to make her wonder if keeping her marriage with Vince was the right move. This revelation had started an argument right there in the counseling room, the exact details of which now eluded Vince. What he did remember was that he somehow, out of anger, ended up revealing that he had also developed feelings for someone else as well while he had been away. Vince said this person was a woman who had helped him clear his name and get back to his family (even in the midst of his anger, Vince knew better than to mention he had been teammates with the still-active Orwell in front of the counselor, but Dana knew her husband was referring to the female blogger who had once sheltered her and Trip from ARK, and who had remained close friends with Vince after her husband's name had been cleared). Predictably, this news made Dana pretty upset, even after Vince assured her that nothing had physically happened between him and his "female friend", which was the truth. The blond haired man wasn't sure if his wife was mad at him because she didn't believe that he hadn't been physically intimate with Jamie, or because he was still close friends with the blogger. Jamie had actually come by the Faraday home several times since Vince's name had been cleared , much to the delight of Vince and Trip (she was the only person the youngest Faraday knew who could occasionally beat him at his favorite video game), and to the annoyance of Dana Faraday.

All Vince knew was, after that therapy session and his rash confession, Dana had told Vince that he couldn't spend time with Jamie anymore if he wanted their marriage to work. Vince saw his wife's point. He really did. Dana had stopped seeing the public defender for the sake of their marriage, so it seemed reasonable enough for her to ask her husband to stop spending time with someone he was infatuated with (Vince hadn't been **quite** stupid enough to say he was in love with the blogger). In fact, after he told Jamie about what his wife had said about their friendship later, Jamie had actually agreed with Dana, saying that she did not want to be the reason for any conflict in the Faraday home. After all, by this point, Vince and Jamie had silently acknowledged that they had feelings for each other that neither of them could ever act upon.

Vince sighed. He supposed if he was a wiser man, he would have called his friendship with Jamie off and been done with it. But he hadn't. Vince told himself that he had insisted on still being there for Jamie, as a friend, because she needed him to be there. The new CEO of ARK, who was desperately trying to change her father's company and Palm city for the better, still had a lot of psychological and emotional problems, and she still needed Vince to help her with that. And that was true, as far as it went. Jamie had heard the voices again several times since Vince had come back home, but each time this had happened, whether in the middle of the day or at 2 in the morning, she had called Vince, just like he had made her promise to. The voices had disappeared every time the man appeared, without fail, at Jamie's mansion (which had been her father's before) within 30 minutes of receiving her phone call. Vince knew that this system seriously ticked off his wife, but he didn't really know what else to do, because he was definitely not prepared to let Jamie kill herself or be committed to a mental institution.

Vince told himself that the real reason he had refused to break off his friendship with the blogger was definitely not because he didn't know what he would do, or how he would feel, if he could never see the brunette again, or because, even when Jamie had said it was okay if he wanted to let their friendship go, the woman's hazel eyes had asked him to stay. Nope, those definitely weren't the reasons he had chosen to keep his friendship with Jamie Fleming against his wife's wishes. And it wasn't like he was sneaking around or anything. After all, he and Jamie had only allowed themselves to be friends for the last 2 and a half years, and Dana knew that. And Vince did tell his wife what he was doing every time he went to see Jamie, even if it did make Dana a little upset with him (although she did not seem all that upset about it today, which confused him). Even so, Vince somehow felt it was cheating every time he went to see Jamie, even on those occasions in which his friend was actually going through a lot of emotional suffering. Today, he didn't even have that excuse. It was just Tuesday, his and Jamie's day to have ice cream while she was on her lunch break (Vince was still on indefinite paid leave from the police department while the full extent of the whole Chess fiasco was sorted out). Vince told himself that his "social calls" helped keep Jamie emotionally balanced, and as far as he knew, that was the case. But even Vince couldn't convince himself that he didn't legitimately want to see his "friend" on a regular basis, just for the pleasure of the beautiful young woman's company, and to have intelligent conversations with the blogger. In short, Vince Faraday knew he was in far too deep with his partner in crime (he still secretly moonlighted as the Cape now and again, even though the city didn't need him as often anymore now that the cops in this city didn't work for Peter Fleming), but he had no clue what to do about it. Vince knew he couldn't keep visiting Jamie like this, even as a friend, without there being major repercussions to his marriage to Dana, and possibly his paternal relationship with his son Trip, neither of whom he wanted to lose. On the other hand, for a number of reasons, Vince just couldn't bear to drop the blogger out of his life.

Jamie's arrival momentarily cut off Vince's dark thoughts, and soon, both he and Jamie had chocolate ice cream cones in their hands, and were talking and laughing like they had known each other for years, which Vince supposed they had. The Cape was easily able to ignore the guilty look in Jamie's eyes, and he forced himself not to think about the fact that, after each time he and Jamie saw each other, the beautiful woman would again try to insist that it might be a good idea for them to stop meeting each other socially, and that she would probably try to tell him the same thing again before she went back to work for the rest of the day. That was one difference between him and the blogger, he could feel guilty about his friendship with Jamie both before and after every time he saw the hazel-eyed woman, but he could never feel guilty about seeing her when he was actually in Jamie's presence. Because these days, it was only when he was around Jamie that he felt alive anymore. Oh, he still got along fine with his wife on the days he didn't go to see Jamie, but they didn't click like they used to, and there wasn't any chemistry left there. Even while spending time with Trip, his son who he loved more than life itself, there was always the shadow of the uncertainty that Vince felt over that relationship. The fear that Dana would divorce him, get full custody of Trip, and take his son away to be raised by some strange lawyer, so he could never relax enough to be truly happy around his son either. Around Jamie, however, all of those worries would just fade away, and it would feel just like the old days again, when they only had each other to trust and depend on. Well, aside from the morally dubious, and sometimes less than trustworthy, Carnival of Crime, the members of which Jamie had dropped by to see a couple of times, and said they were doing alright. In any case, it felt like they were the Cape and Orwell again, two against the world, like it was supposed to be that way. Vince of course, just had to run the moment by asking a serious question. "So, how does it feel to run the fabled ARK Corporation?"

Jamie sighed. "It really sucks, actually! Yes, I get an even bigger bank account, but now I have to pick up the pieces of all the things, all of the lives, my father ruined in this city. Do you know how much of a mess ARK's finances were when I was given control of the company!? Half of ARK's profits where coming from illegal sources, some of which I still haven't figured out the details of. To make matters worse, there are still records of illegal weaponry that MY company is still supposedly holding somewhere, and I can't find those weapons because there locations were kept off the books! It's all driving me insane!" Seeing the concerned look that Vince was giving her after that, Jamie decided to amend her words a little. "Sorry, I didn't meant to worry you, Vince. I know you have enough to worry about with your family, already. I just meant that it's been pretty difficult to clean up my father's mess, but I know me and the new board of directors will sort it out in time. If nothing else, I will probably be able to get my father to tell me where the weapons are when I visit him at this hospital." Vince nodded solemnly. He knew that Jamie Fleming visited her father once every week in the hopes that doing so would help Peter get rid of hiss Chess persona faster. He didn't exactly approve of his friend spending so much time with the villain that it had taken so long to stop, but Vince understood. He of all people understood not wanting to give up on family. Thankfully, Jamie changed the subject of conversation to one that was a little less dark. "Besides, I have been making some headway on changing this city in my new position. For instance, if all goes according to my plans, Palm City PD will be a self-sustaining, independent entity by the end of this year, so you won't have to live through the awkwardness of having a friend as a boss for too much longer!"

Both Jamie and Vince chuckled at that, causing just enough movement in the woman's arms to shake her ice cream cone, making what was left of her ice cream scoop fall off its cone, and right into Vince's lap! Jamie blushed and got out a napkin. "Sorry about that, I'll get it!" But Vince, trying to be a gentleman, attempted to clean up the mess on his lap with his own napkin. And that was when it happened. As Jamie and Vince both simultaneously directed their gaze downward, their two heads, which had already been pretty close together, came into a position in which they were almost in contact. And now the two "friend's" lips were only about five inches away from each other. Vince and Jamie both froze as they became lost in each other's eyes. They had been able to be strong and resist kissing each other so far, but their lips had never been this close together before, and the heat in both Jamie and Vince's eyes made it plain they were both seriously considering crossing that line. In the end, it was Jamie who broke, as her years of unrequited longing for the man in front of her finally got the best of her as she moved her lips toward Vince's. At first, Vince followed suite, and the "friends'" lips slowly closed the distance from 5 inches…to 4, to 3, to 2, to 1….

But at the last second, Vince's higher brain functions kicked in again, and he was instantly flooded with guilt. Cheating on one's wife was not how a Faraday man acted, the blond haired man suddenly remembered, and if nothing before this had been cheating, kissing Jamie definitely would be. All of these thoughts flashed through Vince's mind surprisingly quickly, and Vince was able to pull away from Jamie just before his lips made contact with those of the woman in front of him, causing Jamie to break out her trance-like state as well as the Cape started speaking. "I'm sorry, Jamie. We can be friends, but we can't do this! I have a wife and child and I…"

Jamie looked down at the ground guiltily. "I know. You have a beautiful family. I've spent time with both Dana and Trip. They are great people, and I don't want to hurt them anymore than you do. Trying to kiss you was wrong, and I'm sorry. It's just…" Jamie looked up at Vince, and the cop could see that there were several tears coming out of the blogger's hazel eyes. "I don't think I can do this anymore, Vince! I thought I could. I thought I was strong enough to just be your friend. To only spend time with you maybe once or twice a week now that you're back with your family. But I'm not! I hate being around you and not being able to show you how I feel, not even being able to spend every day with you as close friends like we used to! It hurts too much! You should go home and patch things up with Dana. Forget about me. There is no reason that anybody else should get hurt because of all this!"

Vince blinked in astonishment. He couldn't believe what he was hearing! "What exactly are you saying, Jamie?!"

Jamie cried harder, shrugging off the hand that Vince tried to comfortingly put over her shoulder. "I'm saying that we need to stay out of each other's lives, Vince! I love you, but I need to go now, and I don't want to see you anymore!"

Vince couldn't bring himself to move or speak as he watched Jamie walk away from the park, still sobbing and oblivious to the pair of eyes that belonged to the red haired woman at the center of the park, who had watched the entire spectacle between Jamie and Vince play out. The Cape didn't even think about the fact that Jamie's scoop of ice cream was still on his jeans, slowly melting. He felt like he had been kicked in the gut, harder than he had ever been hit before, now that he knew that Jamie no longer wanted him in her life. He knew he should have been relieved that the blogger, and the danger to Vince's marriage and family that she represented, was out of his life. That he now had every excuse to walk away from his responsibilities to his emotionally disturbed friend. But he felt the exact opposite of that. Where there had been joy and life in his soul just moments ago, Vince Faraday now only felt pain and emptiness. And when he finally looked up from his slouched position on the bench, he could see through his tear-stained vision that Jamie was long gone.

But Dana Faraway was standing silently right in front of him, holding out a napkin to her husband. "Are you going to try to go after her then?" Vince shrugged, still too stunned to process his present situation as his wife spoke again "You might want to get that ice cream off your jeans before it stains."

Vince nodded numbly, still too shocked to make sense of this turn of events enough to wonder if he was now in trouble with his wife. Finally though, after Vince had cleaned himself up and threw the napkin, and his mostly melted ice cream cone, away in a trash can, he regained enough sense to wonder that very thing as he looked into his wife's eyes. "Did you see…?"

Dana sighed and rolled her eyes. She still had a soft spot for the father of her child, but he had never been all that quick on that uptake, at least concerning matters that didn't involve being a cop or a superhero. "Yes. I saw everything, Vince. For the first and only time, I decided to follow you to see what happened whenever you went to see Jamie. You've certainly gotten yourself into a pickle, haven't you!?"

Now Vince was very confused. Apparently, his wife had seen Jamie and he almost kiss, and the blogger confess that she loved him, but his wife didn't look angry. In fact, for the first time in six months, Dana Faraday actually seem calm and almost…resigned to their present situation. To be honest, it was kind of freaking Vince out a little bit. "Not to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but why are you so calm about this?!"

Dana sighed again. "Because I've realized lately that I've been a hypocrite the past few months, and that I've had no logical reason to be mad at you. I've kept some things from you, Vince. Things we need to talk about now." Dana led her husband to a table that was a little further into the park as she pulled two stacks of documents and a pen out of her brief case and put them on said table before setting down and motioning for Vince to do likewise in the seat across from her. After he did so, Dana looked at her husband with a very serious expression on her face. "So now you and I are going to have a talk. And when we are done, we are going to make some very important decisions about the future…and whether we or not will be experiencing that future as a married couple!"

**Author's note: I just want to start by saying here that this is my first time writing a fanfic for the Cape. I'm sorry to say I didn't even know about the show until several months ago, which is why I have not written a story for this fandom before now. I am not sure if there is still even interest in Cape fanfics, though, so, at the risk of seeming like I'm holding my story hostage, I don't think I will continue writing for very long if I don't get any reviews. I love the Cape, but I have no interest in posting a story that nobody cares to read.**

**My point is, please review, even if you don't like this chapter, I would at least like to know that there is still interest in The Cape fanfics and Vinwell, and to see what I could do better in the future. I look forward to your input, readers!**

**-supercode**


	2. Chapter 2

Vince looked seriously at his wife and the two documents between that lay on the table between Dana and himself. He didn't understand all of the legalese written on the two sets of documents, but he thought he had a pretty good idea of what the mutually exclusive sets of papers meant. And that made Vince very nervous, and even more confused. "Okay, Dana. I'm confused." The sandy haired man admitted. "I think we do need to have that talk."

Dana nodded gravelly. "First of all, I wanted to apologize for lying to you about a couple of things. I feel really bad about that, especially since you have at least been honest with me about your feelings for Jamie, and the time you have been spending with her."

Vince nodded neutrally. He was listening to what Dana was saying, but part of his thoughts still dwelled upon Jamie, and if she was feeling okay right now.

Dana continued speaking in her most serious tone. "First of all, I think you need to know that we haven't technically been married since you became legally dead 2 and a 1/2 years ago."

Vince shook his head. "That doesn't make sense. I thought you and Travis…." Vince hesitated, he still didn't like saying that man's name, even after all the lawyer had done for Dana and Trip. "Helped me sort all of that out and legally brought me back from the dead after my name was cleared?!"

Dana sighed. "We did, Vince. Mostly. You are legally alive, and entitled to the rights to all of your possessions, salary with the police department, etc. But…and know this wasn't entirely ethical but… Travis and I did some legal maneuvering and…the short version is that our marriage license never got renewed, because I wanted to see if we could make things work as a couple again before I renewed it. And I have to tell you, I don't think **either **of us has been doing so well on that front." Dana made sure to emphasis that she was putting the blame for that on herself as well, not just Vince. She was pretty sure that what she needed to say to her not-husband was making him angry enough already.

And Dana was right about that. Vince was livid that Dana had purposely not renewed their marriage license and had hid that fact from his this entire time. Therefore, he was just barely to keep an edge from entering his voice (after reminding himself that, since he had almost kissed Jamie **before** he knew about any of this, he was hardly innocent either) as he replied to his wif...to Dana's first major revelation for the day. "So you are saying that you and I have been divorced all of this time!?"

Dana shook her head. "It's a little more complicated than that. But I suppose it was sort of like us getting divorced. When you died, to put in simpler terms…it was like a very severe, albeit informal, separation, legally speaking. And that separation is still if effect. The thing is, Vince, Trip has been through a lot, and he took it really hard when he thought you had died. I know he seems to be doing okay now, better than you and I are, anyway. But I just didn't want to subject him to the two of us getting into a messy legal battle over a divorce, on top of everything else, if the two of us couldn't make things work after you had been gone so long. I hope you understand that I was trying to protect our son."

Vince nodded his head reluctantly as he visible calmed down a little. He was still angry at Dana, but he could understand that parental, protective impulse very well. Whatever their differences were now, loving Trip, and wanting whatever was best for their son, would always be something that he and Dana would have in common. He just wasn't sure that was the only reason his wife hadn't brought his marriage to her "back from the dead" along with the rest of him. But the sandy haired man decided to keep his suspicions about that to himself, at least for now. "I understand. I wish you had told me this sooner, but I definitely get wanting to protect Trip. What is the second thing you wanted to tell me?"

Dana nodded glumly. "Yes, I did promise to tell you the other thing. I…" Dana sighed in trepidation. "I want you to know that I'm not proud of this Vince, but…after that disastrous counseling session we had two months ago, the one where you told me about your feelings for Jamie…I called Travis."

Vince's eyes widened, too shocked and confused to provide any other response to this revelation. He had suspected that Dana's feelings for Travis might be part of the reason that he and Dana weren't currently married. Now that suspicion had been confirmed, he honestly didn't know whether to be angry or relieved. On the one hand, Dana had told him at that last disastrous counselling session that she had broken of all contact with the defense attorney, who had relocated to another city to practice law. On the other hand, the fact that Dana had not done so made Vince feel slightly less guilty for all the times he had seen Jamie over the past 6 months. So Vince just kept a straight face and said. "Continue."

Dana nodded. She had figured her hus…Vince, would want more details about what had been going on between her and her former employer. "Okay, I suppose you are entitled to know all of it. The day after that session, while you were seeing Jamie and Trip was busy playing video games with his friend, I called Travis. I want you to know I hadn't called him between the time you came back to us and that night but… I'm not sure if I called him because I was mad at you for spending time with Jamie because I was in denial about the fact the relationship with you and I wasn't working, or because the previous night's session had just reminded me how disconnected you and I have become, and I just wanted to feel connected to someone. I don't know. All I know is that Travis and I got to talking again, and we have continued to do so over the past couple of months. We haven't actually met since you came back, but we have certainly talked about it." Dana sighed again as Vince just stared at the red-haired woman and nodded, not trusting himself to say anything at this moment, since he was filled with confliction emotions of anger, jealousy, and relief because of Dana's words.. " I know it was wrong of me to call him after I said I wasn't talking to Travis, but…He was good to me when you were gone Vince, and he was good to Trip, too! He got me a job when I needed one, he's helped Trip improve his grades and encouraged him to join some after-school clubs, and he helped me to feel better, to feel connected to and loved by **someone **who I could tell about my pain, when you were gone. I had thought you were dead, Vince!" Dana broke into tears, remembering how hard the first nine months had been after Vince had "died", while the man in question reached across the table and put a comforting hand on Dana's right shoulder. Even though he was angry at Dana right now, he still loved her in a way, though it was definitely a different, platonic kind of love now. As such, Vince still didn't like to see the mother of his child cry, especially over a situation which was largely his own fault to begin with. After all, he had been the one to choose to play dead after Chess tried to kill him 2 ½ years ago, and he had decided to keep visiting Jamie after that counseling session, even if it was as a "concerned friend." The red head nodded her head in thanks, grateful that there was no people in their vicinity to witness her emotional outburst, since it was late afternoon on a normal calendar workday, before she continued talking. "And I…I fell in love with him when you were gone, Vince! We had even been talking about getting married when you and Jamie finally exposed Peter Fleming and cleared your name. When you came back, I tried to tell myself that I could put those feelings for Travis away, and that you and I were still in love with each other, but now I think I was just lying to myself on both counts." Dana gazed sincerely at Vince. "I still love you, Vince. You have given me a wonderful child, and some of the best years of my life, and I know you are a good man who has been trying to make the best of an impossible situation over the past 2 and a ½ years. But I am not **in love** with you anymore, and I don't think you are in love with me, either. I believe both our hearts belong to other people now. What do you think?"

Vince nodded solemnly, removing his arm from Dana's shoulder. As he replied to his wife's question, he was surprised how easy the words came out, and how relieved he was to finally be able to say what he felt out loud. "I think you may be right about that. I definitely fell hard for Jamie when we were working together to take down Peter Fleming, despite my best efforts not to. I never let myself express those feelings though. At least, now until today, when I almost kissed her. I still don't know how that happened. I just don't know how everything got so complicated! I mean, I still love you in a different way now, and I still want you to be happy. And I definitely love Trip, and I don't want to lose my son…"

Dana interrupted Vince. "I know that, and I know how much you love Trip. And that boy practically worships you, especially now that he knows that his dad is his favorite superhero come to life. So you can relax about that, Vince. No matter what you decide here today, you will still be part of our son's life, and I wouldn't want it any other way. However, there is an important decision to be made here. And, I guess since you are the one that has at least been honest about what had been going on, and been more mature about his situation, I've decided it's only right you should be the one who makes it." Dana pointed at the stack of documents to Vince's right. "This stack of documents pertain to our marriage. If you sign the first page of this packet, our wedding license will be renewed and we will be husband and wife again, and we can see if we can rekindle that old spark. If you decide that is still what you want though, I will have to keep my distance from Travis, and I will need your word that you will stay away from Jamie, so…." Dana let that sentence hang in the air, but her tone of voice and facial expression betrayed that that was not the option she wanted Vince to pursue, even though she was trying not to let her personal feelings get in the way. The woman pointed to the other set of documents. "This set of documents is a little more complicated. It would basically be a legal division of our assets. If you don't trust me on this, and after I've kept so much from you, I wouldn't blame you if didn't, you can have a lawyer of your own look through it, but I think you will find the terms are pretty fair. We will both keep all of the money we earn from now on and each of us will receive half of the contents of our current joint bank account, which I gave you back access to after you came home. In addition, you will get to keep all your personal belongings, but…" Dana sighed. "I have to insist that I get to keep the apartment, Vince. Even if I get back together with him, Travis' place is just too small to raise a child in." Vince nodded, he thought he could see where Dana was going with this as she finished speaking. "But I would give you time to find a new place, and we would share joint custody of Trip. Believe me, Vince, I'm not going to be a vindictive ex that wants to screw you over if you choose this option. I'm just trying to think of what's best for all three of us here. If you pick this option, though, both of us will be free, me to see Travis again, and you to pursue Jamie. If you choose to do that, though, I suggest you hurry. That girl doesn't seem too happy with you right now!"

Vince couldn't help but chuckle at the massive understatement as he looked at the two documents, both of which Dana had already signed, and one of which she would destroy later, the stack he didn't sign. The red head he'd shared some of the best years of his life with had put the ball firmly in his court. Now he had to decide what decision he wanted to make here. He knew that, despite his own personal feelings, going back to his marriage with Dana would be the easiest course of action to take, at least for him. He wouldn't have to find a new place to live, he wouldn't have to patch things up with Jamie, which he knew may or may not be an arduous task at this point, and he would not have to= try to figure out a relationship with someone who had some very deep psychological issues. Staying with Dana and Trip would definitely be easier than all of that. The problem was, he and Dana weren't in love with each other anymore, even if they did want each other to be happy. Dana was in love with Travis now, and he was in love with Jamie. It wouldn't be fair to any of the four people involved if Vince tried to deny that with his actions now. Besides, Vince knew that he could no more abandon his "friend", the troubled but wonderful Jamie Fleming, any more than he could rip his heart from his chest and continue living. For Vince Faraday, the decision was surprisingly easy, even if he knew the consequences might be hard to adjust to at first. Vince quickly picked up the pen and signed the stack of documents on the left. Despite everything he and Dana had been through, he knew that the woman in front of him was a good person who would never try to hurt him. He still trusted her that much.

Despite her best efforts to remain stone-faced, Dana couldn't stop a small smile from running across her face. "I think you made a good choice here for everyone involved, Vincent. And I'm glad you still trusted me not to stab you in the back with the division of our assets. We can talk more about the details of how things are going to go from now on tomorrow. Right now, I think you have a certain brunette girl to track down and patch things up with. You better hurry, she looked pretty upset. Good luck. Despite anything I've said in the past, I know Jaimie's a nice girl, and I wish you two all the happiness in the world."

Vince smiled at his former wife and stood up as he walked over to her side of the table. "I know you do. And you're right, I should go. But first I just wanted to say thank you for finally being honest with me about all this and…just for everything. I know we have both made some mistakes, but I hope we can move past those so that we can still be friends and be good parents to Trip. And I hope you come out of this happy as well." Vince kissed Dana on the forehead before he ran toward his car. "I'll see you around." And then, almost before Dana could blink, Vince was gone.

….one hour later.

Jamie Fleming sat in the middle of the master bedroom of her father's old mansion. The room had always seemed rather big and imposing for a person living alone, and it seemed even more so now to the brunette who was covering her ears, futilely trying to block out the voices in her head. The voices had started back up again about a minute after she left Vince in the park, and they hadn't stopped since. That was the reason Jamie had turned off her phone, cancelled all of her appointments for the day and ran home, before dismissing all of her staff for rest of the day. Jamie had wanted to be alone, but now she wasn't sure that had been the best idea. She hadn't let the voices run this long in a long time, as she could always call Vince to chase them away during the last 2 years. But Jamie knew she couldn't do that now. She had already brought too much trouble in that man's life, and she refused to add to it, even if she hadn't damaged her friendship with the sandy-haired man beyond repair when she tried to kiss him, which she just knew was the case. Now the voices were really making up for lost time, and their words were even more spiteful and painful to hear than usual, to the point that Jamie predicted she may end up ripping apart this beautiful, spacious room in frustration, just as she had done to her old apartment.

_Home wrecker! You knew he was married, that he had a kid, and you tried to steal Vince away anyway. Didn't you, you whore!_

"No!" Jamie knew she was in bad shape when she was arguing with herself, but the now-sobbing brunette couldn't help it. "I wasn't trying to steal him away from his family, I just got caught up in the moment when I tried to kiss him! And nothing happened anyway…"

Another voice cut her off. _Of course nothing happened! Why would he pick you over his own wife and child! You are a total basket case, Jamie, just like your father! And the man lost two years of his life, and the stability of his family, all because of you! Of course he doesn't love you! No one will ever be able to love you after what you did, what you have become! All you were to the man was a charity case, and now that you have tried to be greedy and get something more from him, you aren't even going to be that to him anymore! You'll be lucky if Vincent Faraday doesn't hate you for the rest of his days!_

Now the woman's eyes were so flooded with tears that she couldn't even see anything through the moisture in her eyes as she started actually yelling at the voices in her head. "That isn't true, Vince does love me, or he wouldn't have done so much to help me! You don't know what you are talking about!" But Jamie was starting to wonder if the voices were right. Maybe she was a selfish, unlovable mess and everybody would be better off without her.

Thankfully, a loud knock on Jamie's bedroom door interrupted the blogger's dark thoughts, as a voice came from just outside your bedroom door. "Jamie, it's me, Vince. I heard yelling, are you okay in there?! Can I come in! I'm sorry, but I had to let myself in the mansion when I found out you weren't at work, you wouldn't answer your phone, and nobody was here to let me in! And I guess after our conversation earlier today, I've been really worried about you, so…"

Jamie scrunched her eyebrows together and nibbled on her bottom lip. Was Vincent really on the other side of her door, or was this another hallucination, another trick of her mind to taunt her with a false hope of happiness, just to cruelly snatch that hope away? Jamie dried her eyes, then checked through the peephole the paranoid blogger had installed in the door. It certainly looked like it was Vince standing on the other side of her bedroom door. And she hadn't actually had any visual hallucinations since her run in with the Lich, so Jamie didn't think that was what was happening here. Besides, she had heard and ignored the doorbell ringing several times about five minutes ago, and Vince had been well trained by the Carnival of Crime, so he could very easily have gotten inside her home if he was, in fact, there. Deciding to chance it, Jamie walked up to her bedroom door and shouted. "Vince, is that really you!?"

"Of course it's me, Jamie! I would think you would know the sound of my voice by now! Are you okay?! Please let me in!"

Jamie sighed, her face still stained with tears, and dodged Vince's question. "You shouldn't be here, Vince! I told you not to come see me again!" Despite her words, however, Jamie quickly unlocked and opened the door to a Vince Faraday whose pale face and worry lines made him look almost as bad as she felt. Almost. And Jamie knew exactly why that was. Vince knew from his previous interactions with her how bad her mental state could get if she got too upset and was alone with the voices in her head too long. The blogger now realized that Vince had probably been terrified for her after she had stormed off so visibly upset. It probably hadn't help the man's worries any when he had learned that the CEO of Ark had shut of her phone and had isolated herself from everyone. Given all of that, and the peculiar nature of her friendship with Vince, she could see why the man had felt justified in sneaking into her home.

Vince took a quick look at Jamie's beautiful tear-stained face and took the petite woman into his arms. "Are you okay?! I am so sorry about how things turned out today at the park! I have so much to tell you, but first, please tell me what's wrong!"

Jamie thought about pulling away for about half a second, but quickly dismissed the idea. She never felt more loved, or more safe, than she did when she was in Vincent's arms, and she wasn't about to abandon the comfort Vince provided her during her time of distress. "I'm…I'm okay. Now that you are here, I'm okay." Jamie sniffled and wiped some newly shed tears out of her eyes by d putting one of her hands over Vince's shoulder and dragging it back to her face. She was glad she was so flexible at the moment, since she still didn't want to leave Vincent's embrace. "The voices came back again, but…" Jamie listened carefully to make sure, but the inside of her head was quiet again. "They are all gone now. Thanks to you! But…" Jamie very reluctantly pulled away from the Cape. "You still shouldn't have come! I love you Vince, but…"

"I love you too, Jamie!" The blond haired man quickly interrupted his partner in crime, who now looked happier than the blogger had seen him in a long time.

Vince's words made the blogger smile in spite of herself in surprise, but she quickly regained her composure. "Thank you for telling me that. But I don't want to be a home wrecker, and I meant what I said before. That it hurts me too much for us to be just friends…"

"I don't want to be just friends anymore, Jamie! I love you, and I want us to be more than that, too!" Vince was now smiling even wider than before, and there was not a hint of guilt in the man's eyes, which perplexed Jamie a great deal

Jamie stared wide-eyed at Vince, caught somewhere between euphoria and guilt. She knew she should have been trying to talk Vince out of what he had just said and make the family man take the words back. But she just couldn't do it. Not when those very words that could be so potentially destructive to Vince's family where the ones that she had been secretly hoping to hear come out of the Cape's mouth for over 2 years. So all the emotionally vulnerable brunette could come up with in the way of protest was. "Are you absolutely sure that's what you want, Vince!? I don't want us to do something you'll regret later!"

Vincent Faraday wasn't the smartest man in the world, he was well aware of that. But he had spent enough time around Jamie to be able to read her facial expressions well, and he could easily interpret expression on the blogger's face now, which betrayed a mixture of joy and guilt on Jamie's part upon hearing the Cape's declaration of love for her. Since Vince now knew that guilt had been misplaced, or at least, greater than it needed to be, the Cape decided to come clean, and he immediately told Jamie everything his former wife had told him earlier that afternoon. When he was done. Jamie nodded and allowed herself a small smile. "Well, that certainly does change things! If you haven't technically been married all this time, and you'll get to spend time with your son, no matter what, then I guess that the feelings we have for each other, and that kiss we almost had, weren't wrong at all."

Vince slowly began to close the distance between Jamie's lips and his own, finally allowing his feelings for the beautiful woman in front of him truly get away from him for the first time. "No. I suppose none of that is wrong at all! And I would really love to have that kiss now, if you still feel up for it!"

Jamie smiled sadly and turned her head away just a tad. She hated herself for resisting something that felt so right, especially when she saw the dejected look on her partner's face, but she felt she had to give the man she loved one more chance to see what he was getting in to. "I would like that a lot, but are you really sure that I'm the one you want to be in relationship with!? I'm REALLY screwed up it the head, Vince! Even worse than I've let on. There's so much stuff in my past that I haven't talked about, something I've done I'm not sure even you could forgive me for…" But the Cape never gave Jamie a chance to continue voicing her thought.

The sandy haired man gently took Jamie's face in both of his hands. "I doubt that very much, Jamie! I love you, flaws and all, because you are smart, brave, compassionate, and you stand up for what you believe in! The fact that you are beautiful and graceful is just icing on an already perfect cake! Whatever issues or problems you might have, I'm willing to help you work through them. And I promise you that you can trust me enough to tell me anything, no matter how bad, and it will never be able to come between us as long as we continue to love and trust each other. That being said, I promise I won't push you to disclose whatever happened in your past until you are ready, Okay? I love you, and I'm not going anywhere!"

Jamie nodded enthusiastically, then finally allowed her instincts to take over and did something she had wanted to do for years, quickly bringing the Cape, her own personal knight in shining armor, into a kiss. And this time, neither she, nor Vincent, pulled away. The kiss was a relatively tame one, only lasting about five seconds, yet it somehow conveyed all of the love that they had felt for each other for years, but until now, had been unable to express. When the new couple pulled out of the kiss, they were both weeping tears of joy.

Shortly afterward, Jamie and Vince agreed that the day's events, the good, the bad, and the wonderful, had worn both of them out, so they decided that it was time for them to go to bed already…and Jamie wanted Vince to stay with her for the night. Vince, of course, gladly accepted his new girlfriend's offer, and the two individuals soon found themselves asleep in each other's arms. The two of them did not make love that night, as anxious as they were to do so after over 2 years of sexual tension had built up between them, for they were exhausted and they both knew there would be time enough for that later.

Nor did Jamie feel the need to tell Vince her darkest secret just yet, about how a man in her father's employee had molested her when she was 10 years old. She decided it wasn't the right time to tell her knight that she had managed to hack that worker's computer to send her daddy a message to save her all those years ago. Or how Peter Faraday had responded by giving Chess full control of his body for the very first time since he had invented that persona right after Jamie's mother had died of cancer, and the entity known as Chess had killed the man that had raped Peter's daughter and made her unable to ever bare children. Peter Faraday had covered it all up, and told Jamie to tell the cops that he had killed her attacker in self-defense while he had been in the process of saving her. Of course, daddy's little girl had agreed to do just what her father had asked. After all, her father and his friend, Mr. Chess, had saved her from the bad man, so what difference did it make that Chess had killed that bad man **after **incapacitating him? Jamie didn't even tell Vince that she still blamed herself for every murder that Chess had committed since that night. But she knew that she would tell her partner all of this eventually. Vince Faraday had more than proven that he could be trusted with the blogger's secrets, and her heart.

At the present moment though, both Jamie and Vince were exhausted after their long day, which had had such a terrible start and such a wonderful, if somewhat tumultuous, ending, and they had both decided to put those things off till tomorrow. Tomorrow, Jamie and Vince talk about those things. Tomorrow, Vince would get in touch with Dana and Trip and discuss the new relational dynamics that had come into play. Tomorrow, Jamie would help Vince move in with her so that her best friend, imminent lover, and partner in crime would have a place to lay his head at night, and a person to lay beside as he slept. But tonight, as they slept peacefully, dreaming of the future they would have together, Vince and Jamie, the Cape and Orwell, weren't worried about any of those things. Tonight, as they lay together, unconscious, yet somehow still somehow aware of the emotional high they were riding, for the first time in six months, the two of them were completely happy.

**So, that's the end of this chapter! I know it might seem like I've wrapped things up here In a neat little bow, and I suppose in some ways that is true, since the way that I solved the moral dilemma that is Vinwell in this story probably wouldn't work all that neatly in real life. But this is the Cape universe we're talking about, so I thought this kind of "solution" could work here. Unfortunately for our protagonists, however, this is not the end of my story. If it were, it wouldn't really live up to the title, would it? Despite all appearances to the contrary, many of the characters from the Cape universe, especially Jamie and Vince, still have a long way to go before they can truly "earn their happy ending"!**

**I would like to thank both of my reviewers for this story so far. ****scorpio38457**** and ****Troll99****, you have encouraged me to keep writing this fic, and I am glad that you have shown me there is still some interest in stories in this fandom! To all my readers: Please let me know what you think of this chapter, and if there is anything I can do to improve my work in the future! **

**One more thing, due to various life circumstances, it may take me awhile to post my next chapter for this story, but rest assured that I have no intention of abandoning this story now that I know that there are people who actually care enough to read it! I will post the next chapter as soon as I can.**

**-supercode**


	3. Chapter 3

Vince sighed as he entered the spacious underground hideout of the Carnival of Crime, causing Jamie to roll her eyes. The Cape knew that his girlfriend thought he was overreacting, and that was probably true, but he was still a little nervous about how his former compatriots would react to him finally coming back to his former residence to see his friends, for three reasons. For one thing, it had been eight months seen he had last visited his old allies in the Carnival of Crime, eight months since he had cleared his name and tried to go back to living his old life, a life that had been seriously rearranged during that time. Vince knew he should have visited his friends long before now, but he had been pretty occupied. The first 6 months during that period had been used trying to maintain his old family's dynamic while still keeping Jamie in the picture, and the last 2 months had been spent restructuring his life, along with the lives of all his loved ones, after he had discovered that wasn't possible.

A lot had happened in just the last 2 months. Vince and Dana had finally agreed their relationship was over and decided to pursue relationships with the current objects of their affections, Jamie and Travis, respectfully. Vince had moved in with Jamie. There had been some contention on that score, as Vince didn't like the feeling he was "mooching off his girlfriend" by moving into her mansion the day after their relationship had started. However, Jamie had rebuffed that point by pointing out that she **wanted **for her and Vince to live together again now that the two of them could finally have a romantic relationship, since they had already lived together as best friends for the better part of two years, and Jamie now found it much easier to sleep soundly when Vince was sleeping in the same bed. Vince had reluctantly admitted that he now felt the same way, and Jamie had basically won the argument when she had quietly added that Vince living with her would reduce the chances of her hearing voices again. And that had been the end of that.

Vince and Dana had divided up their assets, and for the most part, it had been a quite uneventful, if somewhat unpleasant, process, since the people in question were very civil to each other throughout the whole proceeding. Dividing up their time with Trip had been trickier, even though the boy's parents had already agreed on sharing joint custody, since neither party wanted to spend too little time with their son, or have him move around too much. After trying a few different arrangements, however, Trip's parents had settled on having Trip switch residences between them every week. It was a lot of moving around for the young boy, but it was manageable, since Trip could stay in the same school the entire time, as the two parents both still lived in Palm City, and because Vince and Dana had made sure that Trip always had a comfortable living space available in both his mom's apartment and Jamie's mansion. It also helped that Trip had been encouraged to call the parent who wasn't watching him at the moment whenever he needed to, although Trip didn't usually exercise that option more than twice a week or so.

In fact, the kid didn't seem all that phased by all of the changes going on around him, and he still got along pretty well with both Jamie and Travis, as well as his own parents. When Dana had questioned her and Vince's son about how he was able to handle everything so well, the 11 year old had casually mentioned that he had figured out a few months beforehand that she and his dad where going to split. It turned out that Trip was way smarter and more observant than either of his parents had given him credit for. He had noticed that his parents had been fighting more often than they had used to after his dad had come "back from the dead." Trip had also seen how his dad occasionally looked at Jamie during the times she had visited the Faraday home, despite Vince's best efforts to conceal such things from his son. And the boy had also known about all of the calls that his mom had made to Travis that had started shortly after his parents had started going to counseling. Putting these things together with the fact that his mom had been dating Travis for over a year before his dad came back, the amount of time that his father must have spent with Jamie fighting crime over a two-year period, and what his best friend had told him about divorces, it hadn't been that hard for Trip to see the writing on the wall for his parents' relationship. So it hadn't thrown him for a loop when that relationship ended. At this point, Trip was just glad that his father hadn't just up and left him like his friend's dad had, that he still got to spend a lot of time with both of his parents, and that both of his parents, and their significant others, were still nice to him and had made an effort to include him in their lives. It also helped that Trip got along well with both Travis and Jamie, the former of which he now treated like an uncle, and the latter of which had an almost "big sister"-like way of relating to Trip, since she still acted like a big kid in a lot of ways, and usually let Vince handle the situation whenever Trip broke his father's rules, which didn't happen often.

After Dana had told Vince about this verbal exchange with their son, the blonde haired man had stopped worrying so much about how his son was handling things, after he had carefully sat the boy down and explained to him that neither he nor his mother was ever going to abandon him. But he also vowed to be much more careful about what he allowed his son to see and hear from now on. And that had been pretty much the last bit of drama that had occurred on the Trip front until eight days ago.

Eight days ago, things had gone much trickier when Palm City PD had informed Vince that the last bit of red tape had been cleared away, and he would be going back on duty in two weeks. Vince had been excited to finally be back on the force after almost three years off of it, since there hadn't been much need for the Cape lately, but it had presented him with a bit of a problem on the Trip front. Unfortunately, PCPD headquarters did not have a family friendly environment, or an after school care program for the children of its employees, like Dana's workplace did, and neither parent had known any sitters in the area that they trusted to look after Trip. They had sort of "fallen out of the loop" on that front since both of them had been forced into exile for defying Chess. All of Trip's old sitters had either moved or stopped being in that line of work since then, and there wasn't enough time to find one that both parent's trusted. Furthermore, Dana, Jamie, Travis, and Vince all had jobs that demanded a lot of their time, and Vince, sadly, did not feel he could trust Jamie to be alone around Trip just yet anyway because of his girlfriend's deep psychological and emotional problems. He knew Jamie would never hurt his son, but he was afraid that she would forget to pay attention to Trip if she had another breakdown again. That was one of the reasons that he had encouraged Jamie to try counseling again, something she had finally agreed to do a week ago after Vince had promised he would not allow her to be committed. Vince had been relieved by his girlfriend's decision to see a professional counselor again, since, despite the fact that the CEO had been relatively calm and collected the last two months, she was still very insecure, and she obviously still felt guilty about something that she had told him about recently, that hadn't even been her fault. But the problem about what to do about Trip had remained, until Vince, in desperation, had finally suggested to Dana the craziest solution to the childcare dilemma he could think of…and his former wife had actually agreed he could pursue that option. And that was the second reason that Vince was nervous about coming to this place.

The third reason the sandy-haired man was nervous was walking beside him, smiling like an angel while holding his hand. After nearly two years of him and Jamie denying their friends' insistences that he and Jamie were in a relationship, or at the very least, were on the verge of being in one, he was not looking forward to all of the members of the Carnival of Crime telling them "I told you so." The fact that both Vince and Jamie were now happy that they had been wrong on this matter didn't matter to him, even though Jamie had made it clear that their friend's mild-mannered cajoling wouldn't matter to her. Vince was a proud man, however, and he did not like eating humble pie, even over something he was now happy to be wrong about, and he knew his friends wouldn't hesitate to rub it in. The members of the Carnival didn't disappoint him on that score.

Max Malini, and several of the other members of his band of outlaws with hearts of gold were there to greet the couple when they arrived. Among them was Raia and Rollo, who had been dating for a little over a year now, and Ruvi, who had warmed up to Vince somewhat after the Cape had reluctantly helped the Carnival steal money from James Deveraux, a corrupt millionaire who had funded a lot of ARK's illegal operations before that time. The first thing that the professional thieves and entertainers did when they saw Vince enter their sanctuary with his new girlfriend was berate him for not having made time for them in the past eight months.

The exclamations of "It's been too long, old friend, where have you been?" "What gives man?! You've been gone so long, we thought you were never gonna' come see your friends again!" and simply, "Where have you been!?" all quickly died away however, when Max finally noticed the way that Jamie and Vince were holding hands and beaming at each other, and the man quickly put two and two together and laughed. "Well, it's about time!" Max pointed at Vince and Jamie. "After all this time, I was almost starting to believe you were both too noble for your own good to finally see what was right in front of you and act on it! But I am glad that I was right about you two the first time, because all of us can see that you two have something special!" The Carnival ringleader laughed again and pointed at Vince once more. "I knew it! I knew there was a bit of a scoundrel in there somewhere! I'm glad you found him in time to finally get over yourself enough to go after this wonderful young lady you really wanted!"

These words were met by various cries of "Here, here!", a lighthearted, "It took you two bozos long enough!" from Rollo and simple nod of respect and a "congratulations." from Ruvi, before Jamie and Vince simultaneously blushed and tried to stutter out a more accurate run-downs of how their relationship had started. "It wasn't like that…." "What really happened was…"

But Max held up his hand to stop his friends' words. "You can stop that right now. You two don't need excuses or explanations of any kind with us!" The former illusionist spread his hands apart to either side of his body and smiled. "Friends, you are among rogues and thieves! No one here is going to judge you two just for getting together!" When all of the other members of the carnival smiled and nodded in silent agreement, Jamie and Vince looked at each other, smiled, and shrugged. It was clear that their friends were going to believe what they wanted to believe about their relationship, so there was really no point in arguing about it. They both quickly paid attention to Max again, however, once the African-American man's tone grew serious to match his face and the posture he had taken on and the illusionist looked right at Vince. "Now, Vincent. Jamie told me when she called to let us know you two were coming that you had a serious matter to discuss with me in private. Is that still the case?"

Vince nodded. "It is, Max."

Max nodded back. "Very well then. Follow me to my office. You know where it is by now."

Vince did so while Raia quickly pulled Jamie, who the acrobat had become pretty good friends with over almost 3 years, away to her dwelling space so the two girlfriends could have a private talk of their own. Both Jamie and Vince were about to take part in very interesting conversations.

…..

Once Raia had finally been able to get Jamie, who hadn't stopped laughing at the absurdity of this situation since the performer had started dragging her away, into her tent, the acrobat had turned to her still laughing friend with wide eyes of interest. "Okay. I suspected before that you were holding out on me about your relationship with Vince, but now that I know that is the case, I expect you to spill!"

Jamie rolled her eyes, but she knew that she wouldn't be able to leave this tent without giving her friend an at least abridged version of how her and Vince's relationship had started. So she quickly went over some of the key details of what had been happening between her and Vince over the past eight months, with a special emphasis on the events of the last two months, while leaving out details that were too personal and/or embarrassing.

When the brunette was done talking, it was the acrobat's turn to roll her eyes. "It figures that something like that would have to happen before the Boy Scout out there finally made a move. It sounds like you've had a pretty tumultuous eight months, but you two both look pretty happy together."

Jamie couldn't help it as her eyes automatically lighted up of their own accord and her lips turned up into a smile as she reminded herself for what felt like the hundredth time that Vince Faraday was actually hers now. She didn't think she would ever stop getting excited by that thought, especially since events had almost miraculously lined up in such a way that this state of affairs could come about without her and Vince having anything to feel guilty about! Coming back to reality as she finally registered that her friend was smirking in amusement at what must have been a dopey grin on her own face, Jamie finally replied to Raia's words. "We are, actually! It's been pretty hectic lately, especially these past two months, but Vince and I both decided that we will gladly take all the drama if it means that we can finally be together!"

Raia smiled at her friend. She was sincerely glad that Jamie (she had known the woman's true identity after Jamie Fleming's identity had become public when the young woman had become CEO of ARK), who the acrobat had known for a long time now, was finally with the man she loved. And Raia knew Vince would take care of her friend, because as annoying as the man's principles could be at times, they had helped turn him into just the kind of man her emotionally vulnerable friend needed. Still, there was still one thing that Raia had to check up on, since she was still afraid that Vince's sometimes overly chivalrous nature might have gotten in the way of something very important. Still, knowing that she would have to butter the hazel eyed woman up a little bit before she would even considering answering the question that needed to be asked, Raia retreated to the back of her tent to make her friend coffee. Jamie watched in amusement as Raia made her the hot beverage. The blogger was aware that Raia personally detested the stuff, preferring to drink tea herself, but she always kept a few bags of instant coffee and a coffee maker around for her visits, since Jamie was addicted to the stuff. But the Cape's partner in crime also knew that Raia often made the beverage when she was trying to get her in a good mood so that the acrobat could get something from her, and the devilish grin on her friend's face seemed to indicate that was what was happening now. So when the circus performer finally brought a cup of the hot beverage to her friend, Jamie had taken a sip, smiled, and said. "Okay, Raia. I love you almost like a sister, but that's enough sucking up. What do you want to know?"

Raia laughed. "I'm that obvious, huh?" Jamie just nodded with a smile and slowly took another sip of her beverage. The acrobat sighed. "Okay, you caught me. But I have something kind of…sensitive to ask you…." Jamie gestured for her friend to continue, and she did. "Okay. Have you and Vince…." Jamie looked at her friend, perplexed by Raia's apparent inability to finish her question while the performer tried again. "Has the man…has Vince been too much of a boy scout to…you know…seal the deal between you two?!"

Jamie, shocked at her friend's forwardness, sat further back in the chair she had been lounging in since shortly after entering the tent, as she now finally understood what her friend was trying to ask. "Are you actually asking if Vince and I have had sex!?" The blogger said it with a tone that made it clear that the answer to that question wasn't really Raia's business. However, she understood that her friend had just been trying to look out for her by basically asking her if her boyfriend had been too busy being noble to actually "do the deed" with her. Jamie had wondered if that would be the case herself during the first couple weeks of her and Vince's relationship. Knowing her friend's reasons for asking her question, the blogger still refused to answer her friend's query verbally, but she cut off her friend's attempts to stammer out an apology for asking the question. "You don't need to apologize. I know you are just looking out for me, but it's still not really your business whether Vince and I have made passionate love to each other yet." Jamie's words were somewhat undermined by the huge smile that went all the way to her eyes that had appeared on her face as she had spoken that sentence, which pretty much gave the answer to Raia's question away to the circus performer.

Raia smirked. "Oh my…you two did, didn't you?!" Raia knew that she was having far too much fun stringing this line of questioning out and embarrassing her friend, who had been stunned into silence while her cheeks had turned so red that they were practically glowing. But it wasn't every day that Jamie Fleming let down her emotional guard down enough to be vulnerable, much less embarrassed, and Raia was relishing the opportunity to get even a glimpse beneath her friend's mask. After almost a minute, Jamie, still smiling, managed to nod her head. Raia sighed with relief. "Oh good, I was afraid that Vice would be too tightly wound to…but I guess he is still a man, after all. I know I am being pushy, but just one last question, and you can go if you want. Tell me, how was it?!"

Jamie sighed. She knew she should be mad at her friend for pushing her to share such personal info, but she was secretly glad to have an excuse to mentally go over that night in her head again, and it was kind of nice to be able to share personal matters with someone other than Vince. The billionaire's smile grew even wider as she went over that night in her head again. There had been so much passion…so many emotions involved in that one night, that Jamie was struggling to come up with a description that summarized what happened that she would be willing to give to her friend. So finally, as cliché' as it was, the blogger simply settled on. "It was magical." And that was the truth, really, from her point of view, even if her and Vince's first time together hadn't started that way at all. Jamie's thoughts continued to relive the events of that night, even after she answered her friend's question…

_Jamie and Vince were in the middle of another make-out session, which wasn't unusual for the new, extremely passionate couple, but things had become more hot and heavy then usual several minutes ago, and now the two of them found themselves taking off each other's clothes in a hurried fashion and heading towards Jamie's bed. Despite the couple's behavior, Jamie was nervous about what she knew was about to take place, and she could tell from the look in her boyfriend's eyes that he felt a little nervous about taking this step too. Despite her fears, however, Jamie pulled Vince down on top of her as they both fell onto the bed, which was thankfully, very sturdy, once both she and Vince had been stripped down to their underwear. Jamie __**wanted **__this. She had wanted to be with Vince this way for a couple of years now, and now she finally could. _

_As much as Jamie wanted to make love to her boyfriend now though, she was still frightened. She had never made love before after all, and the only time someone had "touched" the part of her body that Vince would soon be heading towards…it had, to put it mildly, been a very unpleasant experience for her. But Jamie tried not to think about that memory, tried to focus on how much she loved and trusted the man in front of her, and how much she had wanted to be in this position with her boyfriend for almost 2 and ½ years. And she was able to do that after she took off Vince's boxers. She was even calm after Vince took off her bra. But after the man slid off Jamie's underwear past her legs and onto the floor with the rest of her and Vince's clothing items, Jamie found herself panicking. To his credit, Vince immediately stopped what he was doing after he saw his girlfriend's eyes widen as she started hyperventilating slightly. Jamie's knight had gently wrapped her up in an embrace so that only the tops of their bodies were touching, until the blogger had stopped breathing hard, although Vince could see that there were now tears in Jamie's eyes as soon as he pulled far enough away to look at her face. The man spoke in a gentle tone. "It's okay. We don't have to do this now if you don't want to. No offence, but I get the impression that you've never done this before, which is fine, but if you're a virgin and don't want to take this step just yet…"_

_Jamie shook her head and cried a little more before she was finally able to compose herself after several seconds. "I'm not technically a virgin, but I damn well wish that I was!" It was then that Jamie had finally told Vince everything, as the story about the man who had molested her as a girl, her S.O.S to her father, and the beginning of Chess' rise to power, all came tumbling out of her mouth. She also confessed that she had never felt truly safe since that night, and that she was secretly glad that Chess had killed the man who had made her incapable of having children, but that she felt guilty for unleashing her father's alter ego upon the world to hurt so many people, including Vince. During this entire time, Vince sat patiently listening to his girlfriend's story. When she was done, the hero pulled Jamie into a hug once again and spoke to her, but a little more firmly this time. "Jamie, I am so sorry that happened to you! No one should have to go through any of that, especially a little girl! But that's what you were at the time, Jamie, a little girl! You were just ten years old when all of that happened, and none of it was your fault, do you understand that!?" Jamie reluctantly nodded. She still wasn't sure she could believe that, but Vince's words certainly made her feel better. Jamie had just let Vince Faraday see her darkest secret, and the man hadn't even blinked. The man she loved hadn't judged her, and he did not want to send her away or blame her for losing his family and two years of his life. Jamie Fleming was still nervous, but she felt safer now than she had in over a decade._

_When Vince finally pulled out of the hug, he had looked at his girlfriend with a grave expression. "I didn't know any of that had happened to you before tonight. I could definitely understand why you would feel apprehensive about taking this step now, considering what happened to you in the past, and I understand if you aren't ready…"_

_But Jamie didn't even let her boyfriend finish that thought. "No. I do want this. I __**need**__ you really, really badly, because I love you and I've loved you for a long time. But yes, I am scared. So, maybe we could do this slowly?"_

_Vince nodded. "Of course. And I love you too, Jamie!"_

_Of course, Vince had been true to his word, and he had slowly explored Jamie's body until she had grown comfortable with him touching her while she was in such a vulnerable position, and by the time the couple got to "the main event" after Vince had checked in with her, Jamie was ready. The young woman was finally ready to give herself to the only man that had been able to make her feel safe and loved since she had discovered what her father had become. Jamie enjoyed the experience so much the first time that she had insisted that she and Vince pick up the pace a little during round two of their lovemaking session, and Vine had happily obliged her. By round three, the couple were able to make the whole bed shake…_

After her mind had finally come back to her after remembering that night, Jamie looked at her friend with a huge smile still on her face and spoke to the acrobat before she turned her attention back to finishing her coffee. The blogger knew her nosy friend didn't need to know all of what had happened that night, so she simply followed her comment about it being magical by saying. "And that's all you need to know about that!"

…

Meanwhile, Vince Faraday was having an interesting, although much less awkward, conversation of his own with Max Malini, who was now looking at the current owner of the Cape as if he had lost his mind. "You have to be kidding, me, right?!" Max laughed, sure that his friend was putting him on. "That is a good one, Vincent! I have to admit, you had me going there for a second."

Vince sighed. "I'm serious, Max! I would really like for you and your friends to watch over Trip for a while! It would just be a temporary thing for a few hours at a time after Trip gets out of school on the weekdays that I have custody of Trip, until we can find someone more qualified for the position that we are sure we can trust!" Truthfully, trust had been the biggest problem. Jamie had run very thorough, not quite legal, background checks on every prospective sitter that he and Dana could come up with, and she was always able to find some flaw in the applicant. Some of the more severe cases had been convicted felons, both before (hence the not quite legal part) and after they became adults, one or two had a history of partying too hard and showing up to work drunk, or spending time alone with their friends or significant others when they were supposed to be watching other children, and one of them had even been fired from a job for shooting up heroine during work hours. And of course, there were a few prospective sitters who were not quite as bad as those others, but still had bad track records with former employers due to more mundane infractions such as chronic lateness or general incompetence. Even though Vince was glad that Jamie had become protective enough of his son to run such a thorough background check, it had been almost depressing that none of Trip's potential sitters had been able to pass "the Orwell test" so far. That was the reason that Vince had finally, in desperation, chosen to seek out the Carnival of Crime for help in this matter.

Max shook his head. "Vince, I don't think there is any nice way to say this…have you lost your mind?! I've met your son before, and he's a good kid, seems pretty smart. But we here in the Carnival of Crime are criminals! I know you don't like to acknowledge that fact often because of the conflict that being friends with thieves has with both of your jobs, but that is what we are. The people that call this place home are swindlers and robbers, not baby sitters!"

Vince rolled his eyes. "I know that, Max! And like I said, it would just be temporarily, and you all would be getting paid, so it's not like I'm asking for your charity here! I know the people who live under your tent are criminals, but…I trust you. Not to obey the law or anything like that, because that obviously isn't going to start happening anytime soon..."

"You've got that right!" Max interrupted with a smile before he let Vince continue.

The sandy haired man sighed. "But I do know that everyone in your carnival operates under a certain set of principles. You don't kill, you try not to physically hurt anyone, and even though you steal to help make a living, you never steal from innocent people...unless they are very wealthy and you are just taking an amount they could easily afford to lose. And all of you have always done right by me since Chess tried to kill me, especially you, Max. And I know that if you give your word to me about something, you'll do it. So I guess I'm trusting you to do right by me again here. Besides, things worked out fine last time Trip had to come here, so why would this be any different?"

Max sighed. "I suppose that is true, and that everyone here can behave themselves when they want to. I'll **consider **your offer, but I make no promises. I may be the ringleader here, but I'm not a king, and I have no intention of forcing the rest of my family here to watch out for Trip. So I'll run your crazy idea by the others, see what they think. And if they are okay with it…I suppose I could allow Trip to come by here every now and again…**temporarily!**" Max emphasized that last word as he pointed at the Cape and added. "But I can't absolutely promise that everyone here will behave themselves! I won't let any physical harm to come to your son, and I will do my best to hide the Carnival's criminal dealings from him, but that is all I can give you! I can't guarantee that Trip won't learn things you wouldn't want him to if he spends time here! If it is even decided that we will shelter your son, of course."

Vince shrugged. "Of course. I suppose that is the best offer I can hope for from you and your gang. But like I said, over the years I have come to trust all of you…" Vince smiled and quickly amended, "a little bit." That earned a chuckle from Max as Vince continued speaking. "Actually, Jamie and were both afraid you would just flat-out turn us down and we would have no one available to watch Trip after school. I mean, Jamie has household staff, which has taken me some time to get used to, but none of them are good with kids and…"

Max held up a hand. "Say no more. I get it. I still think both of you are fools to consider this course of action, though. I would have expected this from you, but I thought Jamie was smarter than to trust a bunch of scoundrels like us around a child." Vince chuckled as Max shrugged. "But I guess a little of you has been rubbing off on the girl since you two have been spending so much time together. Oh well." Max stopped talking for a second as another thought popped into his head. "Is Dana okay with all of this!? Because I do not want an angry mother storming into our home and making a mess while trying to reclaim her son…"

Vince nodded and interrupted his friend. "Dana is okay with this plan. She said that all of you did a great job helping her watch over Trip last time. Even Travis didn't say it was a bad idea, so…"

Max shook his head in bewilderment. "Fools! All four of you!" But the illusionist's voice was calm again when he spoke to Vince once more. "As I said, we will consider your offer, and you will have your answer in a day or so. Now, as good as it has been to see you again, old friend, I have a heist to plan! So if we have no further business to discuss…"

Vince took that as his cue to leave, and the man quickly shook Max's hand, said good bye and went out the front door of the magician's office. Although the Cape had long ago come to terms with the fact that some of his best friends were criminals, he was still not comfortable with hearing the details of the Carnival's crimes, and Max was well aware of that fact. Shaking off that thought, Vince started towards the exit of the hideout, where he could see his girlfriend now awaited him with a smile, while politely saying goodbye to all of the members of the Carnival of Crime who had seen fit to see him off. Surprisingly, Ruvi was among those who had been waiting to help send Vince off, and when he came to say goodbye to Vince last of all, the man shook his hand and spoke as he nodded in Jamie's direction. "That is a very special woman you managed to get, Vince. Congratulations. I didn't think you had it in you."

Vince blinked in surprise. He didn't know where that came from. He and Ruvi had never been that great of friends after all, and the cynical man was rarely this sentimental. "Um, thanks, Ruvi. Jamie is a great girl, and I just feel lucky to have her in my life."

Ruvi smiled thinly. "You should." When Vine shrugged and walked away, wondering what that had been about, Ruvi added with a shout. "Don't get cocky, Vince!"

Vince rolled his eyes at the hypnotist's standard line, but he knew what the man meant. Ruvi needn't have worried about him this time, however. He was very much aware how lucky he was to have someone as smart, beautiful, and kind as Jamie was as his girlfriend, and he wasn't about to screw it up by taking his best friend, partner in crime, and lover for granted.

With that thought in mind, when Vincent rejoined his girlfriend, who was still smiling and looking at him like he was her whole world, and left the Carnival grounds after taking Jamie's hand in his own, Vincent felt like the luckiest man in the world. And Vince knew right then and there, that he would never let Jamie go for anything.

**Author's note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I also hope the characters here didn't come across as too OOC, but I thought a somewhat crazy scenario would work just fine in the Cape universe, and it would be a great opportunity to incorporate the Carnival of Crime into the narrative. Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out there, but I have been very busy lately in real life and I couldn't get to this before now. Also, this story has sort of mutated on me, and I pretty much realized that "Earning Their Happy Ending" was going to have to be a longer story then I imagined, and I am still in the process of restructuring the plot. So, bad news is, it might be awhile between chapters sometimes. But the good news is that there should be more chapters in this story than I had originally intended for all of my readers to enjoy!**

**I would once again like to thank both of the reviewers of my story so far, **Troll99 and scorpio38457! **Thank you for your support and encouragement, without which I probably would not have been motivated enough to get past chapter one of this story. Also, I would like to thank my new beta reader for this story (you know who you are) who I finally bit the bullet and recruited for that purpose after I realized how many mistakes and typos I made in the last two chapters. I am very grateful for your help!**

**As always, please don't hesitate to review!**

**-supercode**

***beta reader is pleased with this. **


	4. Chapter 4

Vince sighed heavily as he entered the psychiatric ward of Palm City General Hospital. He could hardly bring himself to believe what it was that he was going to have to do within the next five minutes. After all, the Cape knew that if someone had told him 14 months ago the position he would find himself in today, he would have thought that person needed their head examined. But then, Vince mused to himself as he mentally went over that timeframe again, it had been a very eventful 14 months.

14 months ago, Vince had finally been able to clear his name after 2 years fighting crime as the Cape and came "back from the dead." Over the 6 months immediately after that, Vince and Dana, his ex-wife who he had not been married to for longer than he had known until 8 months ago, had tried and failed to re-establish the old family status quo between the two of them and Trip that had existed before Chess tried to kill him. It hadn't worked out, since Vince and Dana had both fallen for other people by that time, and they were both very different people now. So, since Vince and Dana hadn't technically been married since Vince had 'died" anyway, the two of them had decided to give up on their old relationship and establish (or in Dana's case, reestablish) romantic relationships with the people they were now in love with. Dana and Vince had divided up their assets, Vince had moved into Jamie's mansion, and Travis had moved in with Dana, with Vince and Dana sharing joint custody of Trip. All things considered, Vince knew that whole transition could have gone a lot worse than it did, and he was thankful for everyone's sake that the separation between himself and Dana had never become ugly. On the contrary, everybody involved in that whole situation still got along rather well, and Vince and Dana still considered themselves to be pretty good friends. Sure, it had become apparent that both Jamie and Travis were a little uncomfortable with the ease that Dana and Vince were still able to talk to each other, or the amount of history that those two shared, and it still felt sort of…weird for Vince to see Dana with another guy, but Vince attributed these factors to everybody adjusting to the new relational dynamics between the four of them. Vince knew, and he hoped Jamie knew as well, that his heart belonged to her, his partner in crime, now. And the Cape had admitted to himself long ago that, although Travis was a bit of a square, he was a good man who fought for the rights of the innocent as a public defender (most of the actual criminals in Palm City belonged to organized crime syndicates that could afford to pay for expensive lawyers), which was similar to what he did in his two jobs. So Vince had gradually started to like the man. Which was a good thing, since Dana had chosen to marry her former boss a mere 6 months after she and Vince had split.

Vince had had some reservations about that. Not about the event itself, for the man already knew that Travis was a good person who would take care of Dana, and help watch after Trip. But, despite the fact that the blonde haired man knew that Dana and her former boss had been talking about getting married before he had "come back from dead," he was a little worried about the timing of that event. He was particularly worried that Trip may have a hard time adjusting to so many changes happening around him in such quick succession. Thankfully, he told Jamie about his concerns after the two of them were invited to the wedding before he would have attempted to talk to his ex-wife about it, and the blogger had convinced him that Trip was a pretty strong kid, that his son would be fine, and that it would probably cause more problems than it solved if he tried to confront Dana about the timing of the wedding. It had turned out that Jamie was right, as she so often was, and when Vince had asked Trip about how he felt about Dana getting married to Travis, the boy had said that he was fine with it, and that he had suspected that the they would get married before too long because Dana had discussed the possibility with him before his father had come back. Later on, Dana also told Vince that she and Travis had discussed the upcoming wedding with Trip already, and her and Vince's son had said that he was okay with it.

The wedding itself had been relatively small. Dana's parents were no longer alive to witness it, and the woman was an only child. Travis's parents, Thomas and Martha Hall, both of whom had been only children as well, were able to attend the wedding, but they did not invite many friends or acquaintances to the event, since they did not have many, they mostly kept to themselves throughout the ceremony and reception, and they had left shortly after the reception had ended, not bothering to stay for the after party. It was pretty obvious to Vince that Travis, an only child himself, had, to some extent, taken on his parent's introverted tendencies, as he had not had many friends in attendance either. And many of the male lawyer's friends that did attend the wedding, aside from a few close friends of the groom, were former clients of Travis who had mostly attended the wedding as a way to say "thank you" to the man who had kept them from being wrongfully convicted for various crimes. Even Dana, who had been a regular social butterfly with many friends before Chess had tried to kill Vince, had "fallen out" with many of the members of her old social circle after she had refused to believe that Vince had been Chess, after going into exile outside Palm City, and after the husbands of several of her friends (who had also been cops) were implicated, tried and convicted of conspiring with ARK to commit, or cover up, several crimes after "Orwell" had leaked the evidence of ARK's misdeeds to the proper State and Federal agencies. The wives of most of those dirty cops, and their children, had left Palm City in droves after this had happened, and most had been too ashamed of what their husbands had done to attempt to speak to Dana, Vince, or anybody else that still lived in Palm City. In an ironic twist of fate, the only people that had come to the wedding to support the bride, other than a few cousins, aunts and uncles that Dana hadn't seen in years and didn't know too well, and of course, Trip, were her ex-husband, Vince, his new girlfriend, Jamie, and Susan, the widow of Marty Voyt, who had been a corrupt cop before his conscience had gotten the better of him and he had attempted to come clean about ARK's dealings to the authorities, an act which had cost him his life. Unlike many of the wives of the corrupt cops that had actually been convicted of various crimes, Susan Voyt, Dana's maid of honor, had chosen to remember the good that her husband had tried to accomplish before he died, instead of dwelling on her late husband's crimes. As such, she and her family had chosen to stay in Palm City, and she and Dana had bonded again over the shared experience of having husbands who had taken the fall for offences greater than (in Vince's case, much greater than) their actual crimes. Which was a good thing really, Vince reflected, because otherwise Dana wouldn't have any female friends to choose from to be her maid of honor, other than Jamie, and that would have just been awkward. Although it was definitely true that Dana and Jamie got along well now (almost too well for Vince's liking, since he would sometimes find the two of them laughing about something whenever he came back into the room after leaving the two of them alone for any length of time, and then suddenly going quiet when they saw he was back), Vince guessed that Dana would have still felt kind of weird about having her ex-husband's girlfriend filling that position at the wedding. Despite the small size of the wedding, which had taken place in a small church on the edge of the city on the opposite side of town from which Dana and Vince had gotten hitched over a decade years ago, everyone could tell that both the bride and groom were very happy, which was all that mattered to the people that attended the ceremony anyway.

After the reception was over, and Dana and Travis had left in Travis' car for their honeymoon (Jamie had offered them the use of her limo and driver, but the newlywed couple had politely refused), Vince and Jamie rode with Trip in a black limo back to the blogger's mansion. Vince and Dana had planned it out so that her and Travis' wedding would occur on a day when Vince received custody of Trip for a week, thus allowing the boy's mother and her new husband to enjoy a week- long honeymoon in the Bahamas. Jamie had paid for that trip as a wedding present to the newlywed couple, whose jobs as public defenders would not have given them the means to afford such a trip. At first, Dana and Travis had tried to turn down the extravagant gift, until Jamie had pointed out that she had done what she did because she knew that both Trip (who the blogger had started to bond with already) and Vince would want Dana to be happy…and that the first class airline tickets and resort reservations were already paid for and non-refundable. The ride to the mansion had been relatively uneventful, until Trip had casually brought up a question that Vince had been wondering about for several months already. "So, when are you two going to get married?" While Vince had gulped nervously and sputtered out something to the effect of "Well, that's something personal…for Jamie and me to decide between us.", the man had noticed that his partner in crime was blushing profusely and looking down at floor of the vehicle while simultaneously smiling widely. Again, Vince Faraday didn't consider himself all that smart, but he knew Jamie well enough to know that her expression had meant that she hadn't been opposed to the idea of getting married to him soon, despite the short amount of time she and Vince had actually been in a romantic relationship. And that had gotten the wheels in Vince's head turning, and the thoughts his mind had generated, and the set of actions they had caused the blonde haired man to pursue, had lead him to this place. Now Vince found himself right outside the visitor room in this psychiatric ward were he would see Peter Fleming, his old nemesis and the father of Jamie, for the first time since he, as the Cape, had put him away 14 months ago.

Vince looked around the white walled room warily after the guard let him in and walked away to "take a break" for 15 minutes. He don't know how Jamie had managed it, but his girlfriend had managed to get him a private audience with her father after her partner in crime had asked her to do so so that he could talk to her father about "something important", with the condition that he promised not to harm Mr. Fleming. When Jamie had accepted his promise not to harm her father, and agreed to make the arrangements, Vince had thought it had been a sign that Jamie trusted him even more then he thought. Now Vince wasn't so sure about that. Although the room was devoid of speakers, microphones, or cameras, as he had asked, the spartanly decorated room, which only contained two chairs as furniture, had a divider which separated Vince's section of the room from that of the psychopath who was setting in the chair on the other side of the divider. Given his own skills in hand to hand combat, Vince guessed the divider was more for Peter Fleming's protection than his own.

As Vince sat in the only chair on his own side of the room and picked up the phone that the sandy haired man guessed he was supposed to use to communicate with Jamie's father through the otherwise sound-proof divider, he took a good look at the man who had destroyed his old life. The 40-something former supervillain and businessman, with disheveled hair and a far away, hazy look in his eyes, didn't look anything like either one of the antagonists that Vince remembered. No, the man before the Cape didn't have the shrewd, calculating, purposeful look to him that Vince had seen in Peter Fleming's eyes on a number of occasions, nor did the man's eyes betray the murderous rage that had always been present in his Chess persona. At the moment, Peter Fleming just looked broken, defeated, and somewhat unfocused. Nevertheless, the man was still able to pick up his own phone and start talking. "Hello. I don't believe I've seen you here since I was thrown into this place. To what do I owe this particular visit, hmmm?"

Vince, who didn't have much time or patience for the man who had tried to kill him multiple times, attempted to hurry things along. "Look, I don't know if you remember me, seeing as you've tried to kill so many people in the past, but…"

Peter laughed, earning him a glare from Vince before he spoke. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to laugh. They have me on more medications here than you would believe, and they make me somewhat…loopy on occasion. It's just that I know exactly who you are, Vince Faraday. A man I really shouldn't have tried to kill over 3 years ago, not that I should have killed anyone besides that first one, I understand that now. But that first son of a bitch had it coming!" Vince narrowed his eyes, not knowing whether or not Peter's remorse was real or faked, and not wanting to voice his thought that he wasn't particularly upset that his girlfriend's father had killed the man who had raped her as a child either. Peter continued speaking. "You're the man who my daughter told me she is dating and living with now."

Vince shook his head. He didn't really like that Jamie had told her father about their relationship, but he could see why she felt her dad deserved to know about it. "What did Jamie tell you about me?"

Peter shrugged. "Very little. It's been kind of frustrating really. Trying to get her to talk about you has been like trying to pull teeth. She always did know how to keep secrets. I must say though, it's a strange feeling."

Vince looked at Jamie's father with confusion in his eyes. "What is a strange feeling?"

Peter laughed again at a loud volume. "Knowing that my daughter is dating, and actually living with, my old nemesis. It's nice to see you again, Mr. Cape."

Vince's eyes widened as he tried to stammer out a denial of Peter's words. "I don't know…what you are talking about."

Peter rolled his eyes lazily for several seconds. "Oh, come off it, will you? There's nobody here to watch us now. No cameras, no microphones. It's just the two of us now, and you've already won our little contest with my daughter's help when you leaked all my company's info to the authorities. You took my king, and my insanity plea in that courtroom was me admitting that this is checkmate for me. You can stop pretending now, Mr. Faraday! It's not like anyone here will believe the ravings of a mad man anyway if I tried to tell them who you are, a futile course of action I have no intention of undertaking."

Vince leaned in closer to the clear solid divider between him and Mr. Fleming, and the drugged up man on the other side of that divider did the same until the two men were practically eye to eye. "What makes you think I'm the Cape, Mr. Fleming?"

Peter smirked. "It wasn't very hard to work out that puzzle, once I had all of the pieces. I try to kill you, and everyone, including me, thinks I succeeded, and the Cape surfaces shortly after that. Two years later, the Cape and Orwell, my Jamie, clear your name, and presto! You suddenly reappear, alive and well, right after you were declared not guilty of all of the crimes I framed you for, just in time to testify against me at my trial! Then, a mere six months or so later, my daughter walks in here and tells me that you and your wife called it quits and that you had moved in with my Jamie shortly after that. As I'm sure you can imagine, I haven't been able to do much with my time here except think, Mr. Faraday, but it didn't take me long to figure out that you were the Cape and that you and my daughter had…bonded during those 2 years that the two of you were fighting against me, thus setting the stage for your rather swift separation from your wife, and the beginning of your and my daughter's relationship. I'm sure that went down well with your buddies at the police station by the way, especially before Palm City PD became independent from ARK five months ago." Vince ignored the sarcasm in Peter's voice, but privately acknowledged to himself that some of the other cops in the PCPD (most of which were newcomers, since all of Vince's old cop friends had either taken part in the ARK conspiracy, or had left Palm City long ago out of disgust for how corrupt their precinct had become before Chess had been stopped) had indeed, accused him of trying to "kiss up" to his boss (both literally and figuratively). And some of the other cops had thought that Vince had broken things off with Dana and moved in with Jamie because he was a gold digger, or just wanted to "trade in" his old wife for a "newer model". Although the taunting had eased up since the PCPD had become independent, his co-workers' words still rubbed Vince the wrong way, and he did not appreciate Peter Fleming reminding him of his peers' taunts. But Vincent Faraday didn't let the man in front of him see how much his words bothered him as the mentally disturbed individual resumed talking. "In a way, you and Jamie have me to thank for your relationship, considering the two of you would probably not have gotten so…close if I hadn't did what I did."

Vince grimaced as he struggled mightily to hold his temper and not curse out the father of his girlfriend, but the sandy haired man knew there was no denying that the man in front of him had figured out his secret identity. "Fine. You got a few important details wrong, like the fact that I really tried to make my relationship with Dana work after I came back, and that your daughter and I never had a romantic relationship before my ex-wife and I mutually agreed to formally split up, but it seems like you figured out the rest of it just fine! I guess there really is no point denying that I am the Cape, as you've said. But you are living in a dream world if you really think that I am going to thank you for anything anytime soon. You stole two years of my life from me, you completely wrecked my old family dynamic, framed me for your crimes and…oh yeah, you tried to kill me! Multiple times, I might add!"

Peter Fleming sighed and nodded before giggling slightly. "Yes. There is that to consider as well, I suppose. I also suppose you should know that I never told Jamie about my knowledge of your secret identity, so don't think that she kept that secret or anything. I wanted to confront you with my knowledge of your secret in person, once you came to see me."

Vince frowned. "And what made you think I would want to see you?"

Peter smirked. "I like to think of myself as a man who knows his opponents well. I knew you were the kind of man who would want to face me in person, without the mask, sooner or later. But, from the amount of time you have apparently set aside for this little visit, I'm guessing that you also had something specific that you wanted to speak with me about. So what would that be?"

The blonde haired man nodded. "Alright, to business then. I've been thinking about this for a while and,…even though I haven't been dating her long, I've known your daughter for a long time now and I've decided she's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with so…well, I decided to ask her to marry me by the end of this week, before the next time she visits you here. Despite everything you've done, you are still her father, and I thought you deserved to know that."

Peter Fleming nodded several times. Despite his drug-induced mental state it was clear that he understood what Vince had just said, and the mental patient didn't seem all that surprised. "I see. Well, that certainly makes sense, considering the amount of time you and my daughter must have spent together over the last 3 years, and how quickly the two of you have been getting close lately. But I thought it was customary…." The man giggled uncontrollably for a few seconds before he could continue. "to ask a man's permission before you asked his daughter to marry you."

Vince shook his head. "As far as I'm concerned, you lost that right a long time ago, when you started paying more attention to your business and criminal empire than you did to your own daughter."

Peter became very quiet for several seconds before replying. "Yes. I have made…mistakes in the way I raised my daughter. Several, in fact. But…I don't know if you will believe this or not, but I still love Jamie. I never stopped. I just…well, to say I lost my way would be a massive understatement. My point is, I have missed her ever since she ran away, and I do still love my daughter, and want her to be happy, so…There is something I want you to tell Jamie, and If you won't deliver this message, I will do it myself the next time she comes to visit me."

Vince raise his eyebrow to convey his interest towards his old nemesis' words. "And what message would that be?"

The ex CEO of ARK smiled. "Tell my daughter that I will grant you both my blessing, and my permission, to get married, even though you didn't ask for it, on one condition…."

Vince's eyes widened after Jamie's father told him what that condition was. "You can't be serious!"

Two weeks later…

Vince tapped his right foot on the accelerator of his car for the hundredth time, causing the blogger in the seat next to him to roll her eyes. "So, are we just going to be sitting here in the driveway then, or are we going to get out of the car and ring the doorbell?"

The sandy haired man sighed. Truth be told, he was not sure if he was looking forward to this meeting with his parents. On the one hand, Vince did love his parents, Frank and Julie Faraday, but he was somewhat nervous about how they would react to seeing him with Jamie. After all, his parents, a former Palm City Sheriff and hospital nurse, were even more conservative in their values then Vince was, and they believed, among other things, that marriages should be for life. Something that Vince would usually agree with them about, if he and Dana hadn't both been caught up in such exceptional circumstances. But Vince wasn't sure that his parents would see it that way, which was why he hadn't talked to them since he and Dana had separated and he had moved in with Jamie. And the blonde haired man was pretty sure that his folks wouldn't like that he was living with Jamie either. For all of these reasons, The Cape was honestly afraid that his parents might not welcome the blogger's presence in their home, and that they might treat Jamie like a home wrecker, an interloper that didn't belong in the Faraday family. And with the decision to honor Peter Fleming's request for the wedding still in question, Vince knew that he and Jamie already had enough stress in their lives without his parents giving her grief. So why had he elected to bring Jamie to his parent's house again?

One look at the brunette woman to his right, who now wore a diamond ring on left ring finger, was all that it took to remind Vince why he and Jamie had undertaken this trip. After Vince Faraday had proposed marriage to his girlfriend a little over a week ago while they had been surrounded by their friends in the Carnival of Crime after finally seeing one of their carnival shows (which Jamie had always been "too busy" to watch all the way through before, despite living among them for the better part of 2 years), and Jamie had very enthusiastically accepted (after jokingly remarking that she gave Vince's choice of venue for the proposal zero points for style and class, but 100 points for having his heart in the right place) before giving him a kiss that lasted long enough for Rollo to jokingly suggest that Vince and his new fiancée should get a room, Jamie had insisted on finally meeting Vince's parents, who lived in the suburbs on the edge of Palm City. After more than a week of the CEO getting on to him about it, Vince had finally caved and agreed to arrange a meeting between the four of them. After all, despite all of Jamie's better qualities, such as her intelligence, courage, compassion for others, and a strong sense of justice, the woman still had a "spoiled rich girl" mentality as a result of her father's permissive style of parenting that would rear its head from time to time. In short, when Jamie really wanted something from a person, she wouldn't stop until she found a way to make them give it to her. So Vince knew by now that it would be useless to fight with Jamie about bringing her to meet his parents. Sooner or later, the sandy haired man knew, Jamie always got what she wanted.

So Vince had reluctantly called his father, Frank Faraday, and the man had agreed to have his and Julie's home ready for his son and Jamie's visit. Beyond that, however, Vince's father hadn't said much, which was typical behavior for the man of few words that had helped raise the Cape, but it did make Vince somewhat nervous, since there was no indication from the man about how he and his new fiancée would be received. Even so, knowing that there was no use putting of the inevitable any longer, Vince turned off the ignition, got out of his car, and held the door open for Jamie to get out of the vehicle before he locked it. As the couple walked up to door of Vince's childhood home and rang the doorbell, the blonde man noticed that Jamie, who was now biting her lip nervously and tapping her left foot rhythmically on the front porch, despite her earlier jocular words, now looked even more nervous than he felt. Vince hoped for her sake, more than his own, that his parents treated Jamie well. Despite all the progress the blogger had made after months of therapy, Vince knew that, underneath her usually business like veneer, her self-esteem was still somewhat fragile. The man knew that a few harsh words from his parents might be enough to send Jamie storming out of the door…and crying all the way back to the mansion that she and Vince lived in. And if that happened, Vince wasn't sure he would ever want to see his parents again.

Thankfully, the visit started out promising enough, as the door was answered by Vince's mother, Julie Faraday, a slightly plump (but not quite fat), gray haired woman in her late 60's who was currently wearing a kitchen apron over her simple outfit of a buttoned up shirt and long black skirt. The very first thing Mrs. Faraday did after opening the door was to hug her son before the elder woman started talking up a storm. "Welcome home son, it's so nice to see you again! But shame on you for not calling us more often, especially after that whole coming back from the dead stunt you pulled! A mother worries about her children you know, even if they are all grown up, with kids of their own…" The talkative woman ceased speaking and released her hold on her son when she saw Jamie, who was currently wearing one of her nicer, more tasteful black dresses for this occasion, as well as a diamond ring on her left hand. "And you must be Jamie Fleming, that girl my son has been seeing for eight months that he had neglected to tell us almost anything about!" The gray haired woman punctuated her statement with a mild glare at Vince, who had the good graces to look sheepish and mutter a quiet "sorry." before his mom continued speaking. "Well, don't you look fancy in that snazzy dress of yours?!" The older woman pointed to her apron. "I must say, you've managed to make me feel like I'm underdressed in my own home!"

Now it was Jamie's turn to look sheepish as she blushed slightly and extended her hand. "Sorry about that. Vince did tell me that your husband said that this would be an informal get together, but I guess I just wanted to make a good first impression so…it is very pleasant to finally meet you!"

Julie Faraday just laughed. "Well, that was thoughtful of you! Unnecessary, but thoughtful. I'm not much for handshakes though, I'm afraid! I'm more the hugging type myself!" Jamie's eyes widened as the somewhat larger woman stepped around the blogger's outstretched arm and almost forcefully swept the smaller woman into a hug, but she gratefully returned the gesture by hugging the older woman back before Julie pulled away and laughed. "Sorry if I startled you there, but I just need to take this opportunity to thank the woman that brought my son back to life! From what little Vince did mention about you over the phone, without you, he would still be 'dead', so….Anyway, both of you, come on in! Dinner is cooking in the oven as we speak and Frank is still in the living room watching TV! The two of you should go speak with him for a little while before the food is ready…."

Vince smiled as he and his fiancée followed the older woman into his childhood home, noting that Jamie, who was now looking intently at all of the family pictures on the walls and the trophy case in which all of Vince's high school football trophies were held as she entered the dwelling, was actually smiling now. His mother's positive reception of Jamie seemed to indicate that putting in a good word for his fiancée before this visit had been a good idea, and his mom already seemed to be warming up to his partner In crime. Now Vince just needed to worry about his father…

After Jamie and Vince had entered the family room and Julie Faraday had gone back to the kitchen to finish dinner, Vince's father, Frank Faraday, a man in his early 70's with a muscular build that was broad in the shoulders but narrow at the hip and who still had a full head of hair (although his formerly blond hair now contained several whips of silver) rose from his chair and shook, first Vince's, then Jamie's hand, while muttering. "Welcome home son!" and "It's nice to finally meet you, Miss Fleming!" before the man quickly sat down on his chair and motioned for his guests to do the same on the living room sofa, which they did. After that, other than offering to turn off the television or change the channel (an offer Jamie politely declined), the older man didn't say a word. Vince smiled nervously. He had already told his fiancée that his father wasn't a very talkative man, but he could read Jamie's expression well enough to know that his dad's curt response to their arrival had made her nervous.

The nervous tension in the room was, thankfully, dispelled less than five minutes later when Julie Faraday came out of the kitchen and announced that dinner was ready. Since the elder Faraday's had already set the table in preparation for Jamie and Vince's arrival, the only thing left for the younger couple to do was to help Mrs. Faraday put the food on the table. After everyone had sat down and Frank Faraday said grace while everyone else bowed their heads (neither Jamie nor Vince were very religious, but Vince still went to church on Sundays, like he had been raised to, and he usually brought Jamie with him these days, so the eldest Faraday's prayer wasn't too awkward for anyone), it was time to eat. For the most part, all four people present were silent during the meal itself, since everyone was too busy enjoying the delicious food on the table to say much. So apart from a few compliments from Vince and Jamie on the food that Julie had prepared, including Jamie's compliment that "this is the best green bean casserole I have ever tasted", and Mrs. Faraday's reply that she would give Jamie the recipe later (which Vince knew the blogger would give to her cook, since Miss Fleming had never cooked anything that she couldn't make in a microwave for herself in her entire life), nothing was said during the meal. But after everyone was finished with dinner and the plates were cleared away, while dessert, an apple pie, was still cooling on the stove top, Vince finally decided to bring up the elephant in the room as he addressed his parents. "Mom, dad. As you may have known already, I recently asked Miss Fleming here to be my wife…" Jamie awkwardly held up her left hand, displaying the small diamond ring on her ring finger to illustrate Vince's point. Both of the elder Faradays simply nodded in acknowledgment of their son's words and waited for him to continue speaking. "And if…well, Jamie has been…" Vince's words sputtered out awkwardly before he was able to compose himself and continue. "She has been there for me ever since Chess tried to kill me, in so many ways. And even though I haven't been courting her for very long…I already know that I love her and that she is the woman who I want to spend the rest of my life with." Vince sighed as Jamie smiled at him in encouragement. "I understand if you have misgiving about that because of…what happened between Dana and me. I know how the two of you feel about marriage, that it's an important commitment that shouldn't be entered into lightly and is supposed to last a lifetime, and I actually agree with that, in principle…but…"

Frank Faraday grasped his son's right shoulder with his large left hand and interrupted Vince's words. "It's okay, son. You don't have to explain all of this to us."

Vince and Jamie looked at each other with confused expressions on their faces before Mrs. Faraday cut in. "Dana came by here about eight months ago to personally return the engagement ring you gave her all those years ago, your grandmother's ring. When she was here, she explained the whole situation to your father and I, about all of the things that happened when you were dead, like her and Travis dating, and you and her not legally being married since you were declared dead over three years ago, and so on. She said she wanted us to know that our son is still a good man, and that what happened between you and her wasn't your fault." Julie Faraday sighed. "You're right, Vince, we do take marriage very seriously in this family. But…we know that everything that happened between you and Dana wasn't entirely your fault, and that there was a very complicated set of circumstances that led to you and her splitting up. And we also know that you must really love the woman sitting next to you if you asked her to marry you, and that if she fought as hard as you say she did to help get you home, she must really love you too, so…"

Mr. Faraday nodded his head in agreement while his wife's words hung in the air. "What your mother is trying to say, Vince, is that, while we're not necessarily happy that things didn't work out with your last marriage, we understand that it wasn't your fault. And I think both of us are in agreement that we will give you our blessing to marry Jamie, if you really love this girl and are sure that is what you want to do."

Vince nodded. "I've never been surer about anything. Jamie has been with me throughout all of the chaos of the past three years, and she never abandoned me during all of that time. All I know is that I love her, she loves me, and we have both agreed that we want to spend the rest of our lives together."

Jamie nodded seriously toward both of the elder Faradays while she confirmed her fiancée's words. "Vince is right. I love your son very much, Mr. and Mrs. Faraday! As much as I've helped him, I think in a lot of ways, he's helped me even more. Before I met him, I had been lost for nearly a decade, with no home, no family that loved me, or at least, that knew how to show it, and more demons than I would care to admit. But ever since I met Vince…my life hasn't seemed so unbearable. All I know is, that Vince has, in numerous ways, been my rock for the last 3 years, first as a friend, than, starting eight months ago, as a boyfriend, and now as my fiancée, and he has brought joy into my life again…a feeling I hadn't truly experienced before I met your son since I had been 10 years old. I'm just…happier than I can describe that the wonderful man that you've raised has asked if he could spend the rest of his life with me!" A few tears leaked out Jamie's eyes before she got wiped them off her face with a napkin. "Sorry about that. It's not like me to get so emotional in front of people I've just met. I didn't mean to make a scene…"

Julie Faraday got up from her seat at the table and walked to where Jamie was seated before she gave the younger woman a hug. The older woman chuckled as Jamie's eyes widened in surprise yet again. "It's okay, sweetie. It looks like everyone here is going to be family for you pretty soon. And it's okay to get a little emotional around family every now and again! I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we want you to feel safe here!" Frank and Vince both nodded while Jamie awkwardly hugged her future mother and law back and the older Faraday woman chuckled. "But you are going to have to learn to get more comfortable with my hugs if you want to be part of this family, Jamie!"

The blogger smiled as the slightly more stoat woman pulled away. "I think I could learn to get used to them, Mrs. Faraday!"

After Julie took her seat again, but before she could suggest that she should get the pie from the kitchen, Vince spoke up. "Thank you, mom and dad. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you approve of my relationship with Jamie! I was sort of worried that you wouldn't be…"

"Well…" Mrs. Faraday interrupted her son in a slightly annoyed tone of voice. "That isn't entirely true. We are happy that you are with someone that make you happy, Vince, but we aren't very happy that you hid her from us all this time and that you haven't talked to us since you and Jamie got together…"

"And we aren't all that happy about all of this 'living together, business either!" Frank Faraday grumbled, but the small smile on his lips made it clear that he wasn't upset enough about Vince and Jamie's living situation to start a big fight about it. And the eldest Faraday confirmed this when he added. "But since you did finally introduce Jamie here to us, and you've finally made the decision to make an honest woman of Miss Fleming here by tying the knot, sometime soon we hope…"Jamie and Vince blushed simultaneously. "Your mother and I have decided that we didn't want to start a fight about any of those things and ruin the mood of your and Jamie's big day before it arrives."

Vince sighed. "Look, you are right about me not talking to you, and not introducing you to Jamie earlier. That was wrong, and we should have all had this conversation months ago. I understand that now. But I'm glad you and mom are being supportive about my relationship with Jamie… even if you don't approve of all the decisions we made as a couple."

Mrs. Faraday nodded. "Well, that's all well and good son, but there is still one little thing that needs to happen before your father and I can give you two our blessing…" The elder woman winked as she got up and darted around a corner as fast as her slightly overweight frame would let her, leaving Jamie and Vince in confusion while Frank Faraday smiled enigmatically.

When Julie Faraday returned, she had a small black box in her hands, which she then placed between Jamie and Vince before Frank explained the situation. "It is a tradition in our family that engagement rings are passed down from generation to generation. I proposed to Julie here with my grandmother's ring, which my mother gave to me, and my father proposed to my mother with my great grandmother's ring, which my grandmother gave to him, and so on. Now, I can understand why Vince didn't want to propose to you with his grandmother Elizabeth's ring, considering its…"Frank coughed awkwardly, "Recent history. But Julie and I have talked about it, and we have decided that we don't want our family tradition to end now, so we would like you both to have this, even if you don't choose to wear it, Jamie, and we would understand that, given the circumstances, so that my mother's ring can at least stay in the family." Jamie opened the box, which contained a beautiful, yellow gold, diamond ring that she and Vince knew had once belonged to Dana before she returned it back to the elder Faradays.

Vince turned to his fiancée. "Well, it is my grandmother's ring, Jamie. And I think my parents are right that we should keep it in the family. I don't expect you to wear it, but, would it be alright with you if we kept it safe somewhere? Because I think someday Trip might be glad we kept it when he finds someone special years from now."

Jamie closed the box and handed it to Vince while nodding her head. "That would be perfectly fine, Vince. I don't want you to lose a piece of your family's history because of me, and I'm glad you don't have to." The soon to be Faraday chuckled. "And I'm sure whatever lucky lady that is able to bag Trip in the future will like it a lot!" Jamie turned toward the elder Faradays, who were now once again seated next to each other on the other side of the table from her and Vince and graciously accepted their "gift". "Thank you very much for this very special, beautiful gift, Mr. and Mrs. Faraday! Vince and I will be sure to keep it in a safe place."

Frank Faraday nodded in approval while his wife spoke. 'Well, that's all we needed to hear. The two of you have our blessing." Julie voice took on a lighter less serious note as she added. "Now, who wants some hopefully still warm apple pie?"

The rest of the evening passed by relatively uneventfully, until it was finally time for Jamie and Vince to go back home. After the younger couple had said their good-byes and were heading out the door, however, Julie Faraday stopped her son and his fiancée at the front door and whispered. "And by the way, you should know that Frank and I think it is kind of fitting that the Cape and Orwell should end up together in the end, anyway. We wanted you to know that we are so proud of both of you and all you two have done for this city! Don't worry, your secret is safe with us!"

After the older couple had closed their front door, Jamie and Vince stared at each other in shock for a second before Jamie finally asked the obvious question. "Did you tell them?"

Vince shook his head. "Nope. And I'm guessing you didn't either."

Jamie shook her head. "No. Your parents must have figured it out just based on the small amount of info you gave them about me, or else everybody else would have already figured it out by now. Your parents are pretty smart Vince."

Vince smiled. "Yeah, I guess they are. I knew that Trip couldn't have gotten all of his intelligence just from Dana."

Jamie chuckled at her fiancées self-depreciating humor as she and Vince walked back to the car. "Whatever you say, Vince. Let's go home."

**Hello again, readers! First of all, I'd once again like to thank all of you, especially my two reviewers for this story so far, Troll99 and **scorpio38457. **You all have given me the motivation I need to keep writing this story and make each chapter the best I can make it! That being said, I am somewhat unsure about this chapter, especially the second part of it, involving Vince's parents, which were mentioned, but not named or shown, in the show. Since they were never specifically stated to be dead, to the best of my recollection, I thought it would make sense to introduce them into this part of the story. However, I am not sure I did a good job creating, what are more or less, OC's, and making their actions and motivations believable, or if there interactions with Vince and Jamie were on par with my other material for this story. However, the omission of exactly what Peter Fleming's condition was was completely intentional on my part! You will be finding that interesting piece of information in the next chapter!**

**As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, but please don't be shy in giving me any feedback for my story, either positive or negative. And I would again like to thank my beta reader for their diligence and patience in editing my work. This story would be much more of a jumbled mess without you!**

**-supercode**


	5. Chapter 5

Vince Faraday admitted to himself as he straightened out the tie on his tux for what felt like the hundredth time in one of the back rooms of the church, that he had never been so nervous in his entire life. It was finally here. The day of the wedding between Vince Faraday and Jamie Fleming had finally arrived, 14 months since the couple had officially started being a couple after Vince and Dana had split up, 20 months since Vince and Jamie, as the Cape and Orwell, had finally been able to clear Vince's name and bring him "back from the dead", and just shy of four years since Vince and Jamie had met for the first time after the latter's father had tried to kill him. And that last part was one of the reasons that Vince was so nervous now.

Although it was true that planning any wedding, especially one as big as the one between himself and Jamie, was always stressful, planning this one had been especially nerve wracking. First of all, there were the members of the Carnival of Crime to consider. Jamie and Vince had invited several members of that band of criminals, including Raia (who was to be Jamie's maid of honor), Rollo, Ruvi, and, of course, Max (who Vince had grudgingly decided to make his best man once he realized that he now had very few male friends that weren't criminals) to the wedding. Jamie and Vince had invited these criminals partly out of a spirit of friendship, and partly out of a feeling of obligation, since the Carnival still kept watch over Trip after school sometimes, although the boy was spending more and more of his afternoons at this grandparent's house now that Vince was on good terms with his parents again. However, the presence of the Carnival of Crime made Vince nervous. First of all, the fact that he had learned from his son that some of the members of the Carnival had started actively teaching Trip some of their skills in secret (Rollo had helped Trip learn how to fight better so he could stand up to a bully at his school that he had been embarrassed to tell his dad about, Ruvi had taught him a few basic mesmerizing tricks, which he learned even faster than his father had, and Max had even taught Trip how to perform a few basic illusions) when Trip stayed with them, because they really didn't know what to do with the kid after he got his homework done, told Vince that his friends were still not above being sneaky, or doing things behind his back, even things that concerned Vince's family. True, as far as Vince knew, the Carnival wasn't teaching Trip how to do anything illegal, but the fact that they had been teaching Trip some of their skills without telling him still made him nervous, especially when he had asked Max why his friends had suddenly taken such an interest in training his son, and the man had enigmatically replied: "Well, he's going to need these skills eventually anyway, isn't he?!" Then the man had theatrically disappeared in a cloud of smoke, ending the discussion.

But the Carnival of Crime (who Vince thought, at worst, might try to pickpocket a few wedding guest) weren't the only individuals that Vince was worried about today. In fact, the person that the Cape was most dreading seeing today was his bride's father. It had turned out that the man's condition for giving his blessing for Vince to marry his daughter was that he be allowed to walk Jamie down the aisle on her wedding day. Jamie had basically strong-armed Vince into agreeing with this condition, since she still apparently had the dream that she would someday get her old daddy back in her life, and thought that extending an olive branch to her father concerning this matter would help her bring the old Peter Fleming back. Vince had been more skeptical that Jamie's father could ever be cured, but he had acknowledged that anything was possible. After all, Jamie's state of mind had drastically improved since she and Vince had started dating due to a combination of factors: including spending time with Vince, hanging out with Raia and the other members of the Carnival of Crime on occasion, and her individual counseling sessions, so the Cape had to acknowledge that it was at least possible that his bride's father's mental state could be improving from his time in the hospital.

Even so, Vince had secretly hoped, even after he had agreed to Peter's condition, that either the cops, or the hospital staff, would refuse to allow such a high profile patient out of his the hospital for any length of time. But Vince hadn't been that lucky. The hospital staff had concluded that, since Peter Fleming had shown signs of great improvement in his mental state, including expressing remorse for most of the murders he had committed as Chess (besides the first one), and having far fewer episodes of the "Chess" persona speaking through Peter, the man was well enough to attend a short event like a wedding ceremony, as long as he was on the proper medication at the time, and had sufficient supervision. On a similar note, the PCPD, and several other state and federal agencies, had reluctantly allowed the current CEO of ARK to convince them to allow her father to attend her and Vince's wedding ceremony. These agencies had agreed to allow Peter to attend the wedding on the basis of the hospital's clearance of Peter to do just that, and the former crime lord's cooperation with ARK and the authorities over the last 20 months, which had led to the arrest of several high profile criminals in Palm City and the seizure of several tons of illegal weaponry by the authorities. However, PCPD had insisted on providing Peter with armed escorts to make sure that Mr. Fleming didn't escape before, during, or after the wedding, and they would return Peter to the hospital right after the ceremony was over, before the reception. Despite this precaution, Jamie, demonstrating that she was no fool, even though she was still trying to help her father, had also hired her own private security detail to make sure that neither her father, nor the members of the Carnival, would be able to cause any trouble on her and Vince's wedding day. Most of the members of the six man team that Jamie had hired for this purpose were ex-military vets, and two of them were even ex Special Forces, but one member of Jamie's hand-picked team was different. Despite Vince's pleas for Jamie not to do so, the woman had hired another one of Vince's old nemesis, Dominic Raoul, formerly known as "Scales", to be part of her security team for the wedding.

Vince had tried to understand Jamie's decision to hire the former crime boss who had killed his old partner, but he still found it difficult to do so, despite all of the arguments that Jamie had put forth to defend her choice. The Cape's fiancée had pointed out that, among other things, since the man who had (accidentally) killed Marty Voyt and tried to kill both Max Malini and the Cape had been released from prison on a technicality after Orwell had leaked the contents of ARK's database, an act which revealed that, among other things, the cops who had arrested the deformed criminal had failed to read him his Miranda Rights, he had not returned to his old life of crime after his latest 1 ½ year stint in prison. Amazingly, something seemed to have changed in the former criminal during his last time in the slammer, and despite Orwell's constant monitoring of the man since then, frequent PCPD "check-ups", and more than one surprise visit from the Cape (who Dominic had not been pleased to see, even though he refrained from attacking the hero now), all signs pointed to the conclusion that Scales had somehow managed to stay out of trouble with the law since then.

Nobody had an explanation for the change in Dominic Raoul, which had also caused him to found a youth center for disadvantaged children with some money that he had stashed away (which had probably come from his old life of crime, although that couldn't be proven). Nobody knew why Dominic now spent most of his time working at that youth center, other than the man's official answer that he hoped to keep other children from being abused and going down the dark path he had taken in his past, partially because he had never had anyone to help him as a child, or why he had resisted all of his old criminal flunkies forceful entreaties to take back his old position as the Godfather of crime in Palm City's more disadvantaged neighborhoods. Poker face and the other crime bosses had given up on that dream because Dominic kept sending the flunkies who tried to intimidate and beat him into submission to the hospital in the process of defending himself. Whatever his motivations, which Dominic had kept to himself (popular theories included the man "finding God" in prison, the rehabilitation programs at Owl Island finally working, or that the man had simply gotten tired of getting thrown in prison over and over), Vince certainly couldn't blame Dominic for his more recent, positive behavior, even though the man's refusal to take back his place of power in the criminal underworld had recently resulted in a gang war between crime bosses in Scale's old neighborhood. All of them had tried to forcefully take their place as the new "Godfather" once they finally realized the old one wasn't going to be coming back. Thankfully, the Cape and Orwell had been able to help the cops contain the situation and arrest several thugs and crime bosses, as they had resumed working in their secret identities at night full time, as well as working their day jobs as Vince and Jamie during the day, an exhausting task. At first, it had seemed like Vince and Jamie would have to postpone their honeymoon to stay in Palm City and continue to help the cops with the situation. But, since Poker face had finally taken his place as the new Godfather after all of the other contenders for that position had either been arrested or killed, things had finally calmed down enough that Vince and Jamie had been able to justify allowing PCPD to "mind the store" while they took their upcoming honeymoon.

Despite Dominic's recent good behavior, however, Vince still didn't like the idea of allowing the man who had killed Marty Voyt, and tried to do the same to him, on several occasions, be part of the security detail for this wedding, even after the deformed man had taken the time to find Vince Faraday in his civilian identity and formally apologize for killing the sandy haired man's old partner, and had tried to do the same thing to the dead cop's widow. Susan Voyt had slammed her front door in Dominic's face, and the Cape was certain that the members of the Carnival of Crime didn't like Jamie's choice to allow Scales to attend either. But Vince had reluctantly gone along with Jamie's choice for two reasons. One, he had long since learned that arguing with Jamie about something that was important to her was usually pointless, since the intelligent woman always found a way got her way with him in the end, so he knew there was no point in trying to get Jamie to change her mind (a conclusion he had finally come to after argument five with the woman about this subject). And two, as Jamie had pointed out several times although she did not particularly like Dominic herself, it was precisely because of Dominic's history with both her father and the Carnival that she had picked him in the first place. She knew Dominic, as reformed as he had proven to be, would not hesitate to come down hard (although he had been specifically instructed not to kill anyone, or cause any permanent damage) on either her father or the Carnival of Crime if they tried to step out of line at any point during today's proceedings, and all of the parties involved knew that. Although Vince did see Jamie's point that Dominic's presence could be an effective deterrent to anyone who may have been considering committing any illegal acts during the day's festivities, the scaly man's presence, combined with the attendance of Peter Fleming and the Carnival of Crime to his and Jamie's wedding, still made the Cape nervous. He knew if any of those three parties made one wrong move, his and Jamie's wedding ceremony could get ugly very quickly.

It was for all of these reasons that, when Vince finally stepped into the cathedral which was currently packed full of cops, security personnel, and wedding attendees, Vince felt like he was in the middle of a powder keg that might explode at any moment. Even so, Vince's nervousness was counterbalanced with happiness and excitement as he walked up to the altar to take his position for the ceremony, as the man observed all of the people that had chosen to attend the wedding to support the bride and himself. Dana, Travis and Trip were there, of course, as were many of Vince's relatives, including his parents and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins. But several other individuals were in attendance as well. Despite the problems they could cause, Vince was still glad to see that several members of the Carnival of Crime, including, of course, Max and Raia, were attending the wedding. He knew Jamie would also appreciate that, since, because Jamie had no living biological relatives other than her father, she considered her friends in the Carnival of Crime, who had helped Vince watch out for her for a year and a half, to be family. In the end, there had barely been enough room in the cathedral for a select few business associates of Jamie's to attend her and Vince's wedding, and one of them was only able to get in because Susan Voyt had, understandably, refused to attend any event were Dominic was present.

After everyone but Jamie and her father were in position for the beginning of the ceremony, and Vince had politely nodded towards Scales (as he knew Jamie would want him to do), who respectfully nodded back, Vince took a good look at the church he was in and smiled. He remembered that, when Jamie had told Vince that this church was the location she wanted the wedding in, the blonde haired man had thought she had picked a Palm City church that was big enough to fit all of their guests at random to appease his more religious relatives, and Jamie had been upset with him when he had not recognized the name of the place. Even after the two of them had, as they almost always did after one of their fights, (very passionately) made up later, she had refused to tell him why, because she said that, since Vince didn't remember yet, it would be a pleasant surprise for him when he figured it out. It wasn't until the sandy haired man had stepped inside this church last night for the wedding rehearsal that he was able to remember the significance of this particular church for Jamie and himself. This was the very church where he and Jamie had taken refuge from Goggles and Hicks when the brothers had tried to kill him years ago. The very same location where Jamie had made the Cape take his shirt off so that she could take the tracker that the two Tarot assassins had placed in the Cape out of her partner in crime's skin. When Vince had told Jamie he had finally recognized the significance of the church (the name of which Vince had been too busy running for his life to catch the first time he and Jamie had gone inside of it) after they had gotten home last night, his fiancée had blushed and confessed that it was during that event in their mutual history that she had realized that she had more than platonic feelings for him. This revelation had been quite a surprise for Vince, who had always assumed that Jamie had not started developing romantic feelings for him until sometime after the events surrounding the death of Marty Voyt.

But Vince had thought Jamie's choice in the location for the wedding was not quite as interesting as the woman's prior insistence that the church be checked ahead of time to make sure that there were no white doors whatsoever, no matter how big or small, in the building. However, after Jamie had told him about the visual hallucinations that she used to get, right up through the incident with the Lich, which had caused her to experience terrible headaches whenever she had them, Vince had understood her desire to have no white doors present at the wedding. In Jamie's old hallucinations of a white door, every bad memory she had ever experienced (including the death of her mother, the night she had been sexually assaulted as a child, and all of the lonely nights Jamie had been home alone with her father's household staff after Peter Fleming had pretty much become an absentee father due to his workload and criminal enterprises soon after Jamie's twelfth birthday, after Chess had started to take greater control of Peter Flemings actions) had been just behind that door, threatening to spill back into the forefront of the woman's mind. Sometimes, the young woman had opened the door in her hallucinations, as an apparently masochistic part of her mind always compelled her to, and sometimes she had been able to resist doing so. But every time Jamie had had that hallucination, she had experienced a feeling of dread, because she always knew what awaited her just behind that door….

Vince was immediately broken out of his dark thoughts by the sight of his beautiful bride as she entered the church and started walking down the aisle. As he looked at the woman in the elegant white wedding dress her mother had worn for her wedding to Peter Fleming, the young woman's million watt smile and hazel eyes could be seen even through the thin white veil that covered her face, and Vince's soul was filled with a joy that he did not even have the words to describe. And even the sight of Peter Fleming (whose eyes were now calm and alert as he sported a freshly combed and cut hairstyle and a suit that Jamie had arranged to have tailored for her father for this event) escorting the bride down the aisle could not dull Vince's spirits as he thought about how far he and his partner in crime had come over the better part of four years. They had started out as merely allies who happened to have the same enemy, but didn't really trust each other. But over time they had become friends who truly trusted each other, then lovers, and now they were about to become husband and wife. And even as an individual, Jamie had made a lot of progress in just the last 14 months, even though both she and Vince knew that she still had a lot of progress left to make to achieve her goals. Among other things, her relationship with Vince, her friendships with Raia and some of the other members of the Carnival, and her sessions with her counselor had made her more secure as a person, increased her self-confidence, almost completely erased her misplaced guilt over Chess' first murder, and she had not had any hallucinations whatsoever for a long time now.

One way that Jamie's psychological and emotional progress had become evident to others was the change in how she related to both Vince and his son, Trip. At the beginning of her relationship to Vince, Jamie had been very insecure with her significant other and his son. One way this insecurity had exhibited itself became apparent early in the first week of her relationship with Vince. The woman sometimes appeared to be strong and unyielding in getting what she wanted due to the somewhat spoiled mentality she had acquired as a child (something Jamie was still working on), and the woman had often demanded Vince's full attention, even at very inconvenient times, whenever the two of them weren't working and Trip wasn't in the mansion with them. However, the fact that the woman would often feel bad after she had gotten what she wanted and asked Vince if he was mad at her, as well as her early attempts to shower him with gifts on a regular basis, showed Vince that the woman was far more insecure and afraid to lose him than she let on. In fact, the blond haired man had been afraid at first, before a custody agreement over their son had been reached between Dana and himself, that Trip's occasional presence in their home would make Jamie jealous, and that his girlfriend would try to monopolize his time and keep him away from his son during Trip's visits. Thankfully, that had not happened.

If anything, Jamie's behavior around Trip had gone in the exact opposite direction. From almost the moment that Trip first set foot through the doorway of her mansion, Jamie had tried her best to spoil Vince's son rotten. She would constantly try to give the boy extravagant gifts, such as an entertainment center for his room that had a large screen TV, surround sound speakers, and a new game console with several games, and she would get upset when Vince asked Jamie to return some of the gifts she had given his son, on the basis that he didn't feel his son had earned them, and because he did not want Dana to think he and Jamie were trying to bribe their son into liking him and Jamie more than her and Travis. Vince's partner in crime had also insisted that Trip didn't have to do any chores around the mansion, since her household staff could take care of any manual labor, and she seldom enforced Vince's rules for his son herself, although she did at least tell Vince when his son had made an infraction in the rules and allow Vince to handle it. This set of behaviors had opened up a new set of worries for Vince, who had started to suspect that Jamie was basically trying to buy both his and Trip's affections so that her partner in crime wouldn't leave her, but Jamie's interactions with Trip soon proved that theory was not (completely) accurate. In addition to trying to spoil Trip, Jamie also picked his son up from school, or, failing that, from the Carnival of Crime, whenever she could get part of her afternoon schedule cleared. She had also helped Trip improve his math skills (the only school subject Travis hadn't been able to help Trip with) by helping him with his homework, and offered to watch over Trip at night whenever Vince had to work late as the Cape, once Vince and Jamie's therapist became convinced the woman was psychologically well enough to watch over a child alone. All of these things, in addition to the fact that Jamie and Trip usually got along pretty well even when Vince wasn't around, and that Trip had stated that Jamie was "pretty cool", even if she wasn't his mom, convinced Trip that Jamie did, in fact, love Trip, in her own way, but the woman just didn't know how to show that in appropriate ways sometimes.

When Vince had initially confronted Jamie in private about her behavior toward himself and Trip months ago, the woman had not taken it well, and had burst into tears. It was then that the billionaire had revealed that she had been giving Vince and Trip so many things because she thought that was something you were supposed to do for people that you loved. She also confessed that she really didn't know much about raising children, and she had mostly just copied her father's style of parenting from before her father had started to ignore her, when she had still been her dad's spoiled "little princess" because she did not want Trip to think of her as a "wicked stepmother". After that, Vince and Jamie had had a long, somewhat emotional, but still productive talk in which the Cape had told Jamie that neither Trip nor himself needed her to give them stuff to know that she cared about them, and that he wasn't going to leave her if she didn't. He also explained that he wanted to raise his son in such a way that he learned the value of hard work, and he did not want to give his son too many things he hadn't earned for good behavior, grades, or doing household task.

With time, as a result of this talk, as well as Jamie's therapy sessions, things had improved in the home. Jamie had progressively become less possessive of Vince's time and attention as her self-esteem became higher, and she learned how to more effectively communicate the things she needed from Vince to feel more secure in her relationship with him at any given time. Furthermore, after a few couple's sessions with Jamie's counselor, Vince had learned that he would occasionally, albeit rarely, respond to Jamie's frequent cry for attention in ways that were somewhat insensitive, such as telling her he was busy, even at times when Jamie actually needed his attention to reassure her that he cared about her. Vince had, of course, felt very bad after hearing this news, and he had been more than happy to work with Jamie and her therapist to improve his and his fiancée's ability to communicate their needs to each other, and respond appropriately. At this present time, both Vince and Jamie were happy that their combined efforts to improve their relationship had not proven to be in vain, as the two of them had slowly built a new social dynamic in their household between Trip and the two of them that everyone was, more or less, happy with, which included Trip doing some odd jobs (that the household staff had only used to do once a month or so, anyway) around the mansion a few times a week and Jamie not giving her two favorite Faraday guys extravagant gift quite as often. Although both members of the couple recognized that neither one of them was perfect, and that there were always room for improvement for themselves and their relationship, the Cape and Orwell knew that they loved each other, and that they were now ready to face the future together as a married couple (an assessment Jamie's counselor had agreed with, although she had encouraged them to continue to build on what they had learned about themselves and each other).

After bringing his thoughts back to the present moment. Vince gave a polite nod of respect to Peter Fleming, and smiled at the ex-supervillain's daughter as the two of them approached the altar. Then the minister of the church that Vince and Jamie often attended (which the owners of the church the ceremony took place in had graciously allowed to perform the service) began speaking. And with that simple action, the ceremony was underway.

To Vince's amazement, absolutely nothing went wrong, despite the mixed company of people that had shown up to his and Jamie's wedding. Vows and rings were exchanged without incident, aside from a glare from Dominic towards Peter, which the mental patient ignored. And when it came time for Vince to kiss the bride, the groom lifted his wife's veil to do so in a manner that was tasteful, but expressed all the love that he could convey to his new wife in the space of several seconds, and the minister had announced that the marriage ceremony between Vince and Jamie Faraday was complete. Even after the ceremony was over, just before the only remaining Fleming in the church was escorted out of the building, the man had surprisingly let the cops lead him out of the building without any fuss (aside from complaining when one of the police officers shoved him harder than was strictly necessary), but only after he had whispered something in Vince ear on his way out. "That's my daughter you just promised to love and take care of for the rest of your life, Cape. You best see to it that you do so." Although Peter's veiled threat, which was punctuated by brief moment of intensity in the older man's eyes which quickly vanished, unsettled Vince a little bit, one look at his smiling new bride was all it took to lift the man's spirits again before he and Jamie walked out of the church hand in hand.

…

The wedding reception was a quick but festive affair that took place at a fancy restaurant that Jamie had rented out for the event, and when Vince had asked Jamie just how much money it had taken her to rent out an entire five star restaurant for one event, Jamie had replied that it was well within their enormous budget… and that Vince probably wouldn't want to know the answer to that question. After Max gave a toast to the newly married couple that didn't reveal anything about their secret identities or anyone's involvement in the Carnival of Crime, and was only slightly embarrassing for the bride and groom, the usual festivities were underway: everyone ate their food while trying desperately not to spill any of it on their nice clothes, and Jamie and Vince smiled at each other as they cut the wedding cake and feed each other very small portions of the multi-layered chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. And then, after Jamie and Vince had slowly danced for the first time as a married couple in the middle of the filled-to-capacity restaurant, and joined several of their wedding guests in dancing to a few more musical numbers (during one of which Max had "borrowed" Jamie for a dance, since her own father could not attend the reception, and the illusionist had been a sort of father figure to Orwell, while Vince had awkwardly danced with Raia) it was time for Jamie and Vince to leave.

As the newly married couple was given a very enthusiastic send-off by the large crowd of well-wishers who were throwing rice in the bride and groom's general direction, Vince and Jamie, knew that they had never been happier. Then the two of them entered the limo, which would soon drive them first to get changed at the mansion, and then towards the airport where they would catch their flight to Europe for their two-week honeymoon. Dana had very graciously offered to watch over Trip an extra week as a wedding gift so that the newlyweds would actually have time to enjoy their time on another continent, and, in return, Jamie and Vince had insisted on giving Dana, Travis, and Trip the run of their mansion, including access to Jamie's household staff, while they were away. That was an offer Dana and Travis had accepted without too much arm-twisting. Now, as their limo started driving towards the mansion, and the newlywed couple began passionately kissing each other (the limo's tinted windows blocked Jamie and Vince from the view of both their driver and the outside world), Vince understood why Jamie had, without a word, torn up the pre-nuptial agreement he had a lawyer make for him and Jamie, which would have guaranteed that Vince would not be able to make any money off of the marriage if he and Jamie got a divorce. Jamie had no intention of letting Vince Faraday, the love of her life, get away from her, and she had refused to even consider the possibility of losing him. And Vince knew he felt the exact same way about Jamie. Whatever mistakes the man had made in his previous relationships, including his previous marriage to Dana, Vince vowed he would not repeat them with Jamie, for he loved the woman too much to ever let her go, and because he knew that losing her would just about kill him, if not physically, then at least on an emotional level. From now on, no matter what may come their way, Vince vowed that he and Jamie would always have each other. The Cape and Orwell, together forever. The way it was supposed to be.

**Well readers, I hope you enjoyed this, my last regular chapter off this story! I will be posting an epilogue later, but it will probably not be as big as my previous chapters (we shall see). I know this chapter has even less dialogue than my previous chapters, but I felt that sort of fit with the tone that I was trying to give the wedding festivities. Please let me know if you agree or disagree with this decision.**

**Thanks again to all of my readers, especially my two diligent reviewers, for your encouragement, insight and support! You make all of this writing worth doing, and I always look forward to your feedback, so, as always, please review! And of course, a big thank you goes out to my beta reader for their help making this story readable! Your efforts have helped me more than you know! **

**Until next time…**

**-supercode**


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